Euthanasia: HC appoints expert panel to examine nine-year-old
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Chennai: 11.09.2018
The Madras high court on Monday constituted a committee comprising medical experts to examine a nineyear-old child who is in persistent vegetative state (PVS) since his birth and directed it to file its recommendation on the plea moved by the boy’s father seeking permission for passive euthanasia.
A division bench of Justice N Kirubakaran and Justice S Baskaran passed the interim order on the plea moved by R Thirumeni, father of T Paavendhan.
The committee comprises N Thilothammal, former professor of pediatric neurology, T Ravichandran, director, institute of social paediatrics, Government Stanley Medical College Hospital, and Bala Ramachandran, chief, paediatric critical care unit, Kanchi Kamakoti Child Trust Hospital, Chennai. It has been directed to examine the child and file reports on the present status of the child, whether he fulfils criteria for PVS and whether the said state of the child is treatable.
This apart, the bench has directed the central and state governments to find out whether the government itself or any other NGO can maintain the child since he has normal respiration and digestion.
Earlier, when the plea came up for hearing, the petitioner's counsel N Kavitha Rameshwar submitted the financial constraints involved in taking care of the child but said those were was not the sole reason which prompted his father to approach the court with such a plea. “The father would have gone to any extent to help his son, had there been any possibility for cure,” she added.
When Rameshwar submitted that the present plea would be a fit case for euthanasia if the committee found that there was no scope for reversal of the child’s state, the bench said, “We cannot simply pass orders in such sensitive case. The court has to be careful or it will be prickling our conscience forever.”
According to the petitioner, his son is in PVS since 2008. He suffers epileptic seizures 10 to 20 times a day when controlled by medicines.
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Chennai: 11.09.2018
The Madras high court on Monday constituted a committee comprising medical experts to examine a nineyear-old child who is in persistent vegetative state (PVS) since his birth and directed it to file its recommendation on the plea moved by the boy’s father seeking permission for passive euthanasia.
A division bench of Justice N Kirubakaran and Justice S Baskaran passed the interim order on the plea moved by R Thirumeni, father of T Paavendhan.
The committee comprises N Thilothammal, former professor of pediatric neurology, T Ravichandran, director, institute of social paediatrics, Government Stanley Medical College Hospital, and Bala Ramachandran, chief, paediatric critical care unit, Kanchi Kamakoti Child Trust Hospital, Chennai. It has been directed to examine the child and file reports on the present status of the child, whether he fulfils criteria for PVS and whether the said state of the child is treatable.
This apart, the bench has directed the central and state governments to find out whether the government itself or any other NGO can maintain the child since he has normal respiration and digestion.
Earlier, when the plea came up for hearing, the petitioner's counsel N Kavitha Rameshwar submitted the financial constraints involved in taking care of the child but said those were was not the sole reason which prompted his father to approach the court with such a plea. “The father would have gone to any extent to help his son, had there been any possibility for cure,” she added.
When Rameshwar submitted that the present plea would be a fit case for euthanasia if the committee found that there was no scope for reversal of the child’s state, the bench said, “We cannot simply pass orders in such sensitive case. The court has to be careful or it will be prickling our conscience forever.”
According to the petitioner, his son is in PVS since 2008. He suffers epileptic seizures 10 to 20 times a day when controlled by medicines.
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