Supreme Court reserves judgment on Aruna Shanbaug euthanasia plea
March 2nd, 2011 - 5:43 pm ICT by ANINew Delhi/Mumbai, Mar 2 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved its judgment on the euthanasia plea of comatose nurse Aruna Shanbaug, confined to a bed in Mumbai’s King Edward Memorial Hospital for the last 37 years in a vegetative state after a brutal sexual assault
The apex court, which heard the plea of activist Pinki Virani that feeding of the nurse should be stopped immediately, is expected to give its verdict next Monday.
The petition that has been filed in the apex court on Shanbaug’s behalf contended that she cannot see or speak properly and keeping her alive violates her right to live with dignity.
The government forcefully argued against a petition in the apex court that seeks mercy killing for Aruna Shanbaug, a 64-year-old comatose nurse.
Making his case, Attorney General G.E. Vahanvati sought to draw a distinction between the right to choose to terminate one’s life and the right to terminate one’s life at the instance of others.
He argued that there were moral and ethical issues involved in the case of euthanasia.
Taking an unusual step, the apex court had earlier appointed doctors to explain the expert report after examining Aruna and present their views on euthanasia.
A Supreme Court bench of Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Misra had appointed Dr JV Divatia, Dr Roop Gurshani and Dr Nilesh Shah to examine Aruna and submit a report.
The doctors had duly submitted the report on February 17, along with a CD.
Aruna Shanbhag, a nurse from Haldipur, Shimoga, Karnataka, was assaulted by a Sohanlal Bhartha Walmiki, a ward boy at Mumbai’s King Edward Memorial Hospital in 1973.
Walmiki was motivated partly by resentment for being ordered about and castigated by Shanbaug. On the night of November 27, 1973 he attacked her, while she was changing clothes in the hospital basement for leaving her shift.
He choked her with a dog chain and sodomized her. The asphyxiation during the course of the assault cut off oxygen supply to her brain resulting in brain stem contusion injury and cervical cord injury as well as leaving her cortically blind. (ANI)
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Tags: 37 years, apex court, aruna shanbaug, asphyxiation, case of euthanasia, changing clothes, court reserves, dog chain, expert report, gyan, hospital basement, mercy killing, misra, moral and ethical issues, nilesh shah, pinki virani, roop, sudha, supreme court bench, vegetative state