Maharashtra appoints 417 custodians for living wills amid legal delays

The Bombay High Court postponed the hearing that was scheduled for Friday to March 22. File pic

The state government recently appointed 417 custodians for living wills, a year after the Supreme Court simplified the process of passive euthanasia through such documents. The move came following a PIL in the Bombay High Court and the next hearing was scheduled for Friday, which was postponed.

"Without the entire system in place, it is not possible to implement the living will process. In this hearing, we were supposed to tell the court that only the appointment of custodians is not enough and ask for its further intervention for the establishment of a system in accordance with the apex court's directives," said Dr Nikhil Datar, a gynaecologist and one of the three petitioners in this case.

The petitioners were expecting the final order in the case on Friday itself. However, the date for the next hearing is now March 22. "We are optimistic that it won't be delayed," said Dr Garima Pal, assistant professor at Maharashtra National Law University (MNLU), and a petitioner in this case.

A living will is a written document in which individuals express their wish regarding medical treatment in the event they become terminally ill or incapable of making decisions themselves. This includes their decision to die without receiving any further medical care.

Soon after such a will is made through a notary, a copy is to be sent to the custodian in a municipal corporation. In Mumbai, it will now be held by BMC's Deputy Health Officer Dr Varsha Puri and Assistant Health Officer Dr Bhupendra Patil. The custodian's post was vacant for a year.

Currently, there are about 25 people with a living will in the city. "All of them have sent copies of their living will to BMC commissioner I S Chahal in the absence of a custodian. Now that there are new custodians, it is up to the commissioner to see to it that these living wills are intact and transferred to the custodians at the earliest," said Anand Raut, another professor at MNLU, who is also a petitioner in the case.

The process further requires a hospital where a person with a living will is admitted to form a primary board of three doctors, provided such a situation arises, and then a secondary board, made up of three other physicians, including one chief medical officer. These two boards will determine if the person is in such a medical condition wherein his/her living will needs to be considered.

"Without this system in place, it is not possible to implement someone's living will," said Dr Datar.