Coding for the end
UK's assisted dying bill is a momentous law. The conversation must start in India
Third time lucky. After rejecting versions of the bill in 1997 and 2015, UK lower house voted for a law to allow assisted dying in England and Wales. This means patients terminally ill, as defined in law, and likely to die within six months, can apply for an exit. The legislation will have to be set in motion within four years (2029). If delayed in the Lords – it's highly contested and the lower house win was by just 23 votes – the bill will lapse. It may not be done and dusted yet, but a historic social change has begun. Exhaustive debates and tweaks to the bill included dropping provision of a judge having to sign off on the decision. Importantly, no other person is 'obliged' to take part. Patients will have to administer the drugs, whatever is decided, themselves, so it's a first step to active euthanasia. Reportedly, UK govt estimates there may be 4,000 such patients.
To legislate on assisted dying is never a straight road in any country. Fears and concerns are real that vulnerable, disabled and older people risk being coerced to use the law, to reduce the financial and care burden on the family. UK bill's penalty for coercion is a 15-year jail. While such fears have been voiced to reject assisted dying, the Indian reality is that terminally ill people and families are often left to fend for themselves as a result of lack of access to treatment and/or unaffordability of care. At the privileged end of affordability/access, there is little policy or regulations to limit life-sustaining interventions inappropriate at end-of-life stage. The Supreme Court upheld advanced directives, the right to refuse treatment: passive euthanasia. UK's bill is an opportunity to take further the conversation around a 360-degree end-of-life care that includes palliative care and covers assisted dying for the terminally ill.
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This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Times of India.
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