Supreme Court verdict on euthanasia case today

The Supreme Court will on Monday deliver its verdict on the legality of allowing the plea for euthanasia to Mumbai nurse Aruna Shanbaug, who has been living a ‘vegetative’ life for the past 38 years at Mumbai’s KEM hospital.

A bench of Justice Markandey Katju and Justice Gyan Sudha Misra will deliver the verdict on the plea by writer and journalist Pinki Virani, that hospital authorities be allowed to disconnect 59-year-old Shanbaug’s life-saving aids so that she could die in peace.

The top court is aware that this ruling will have implications beyond Shanbaug’s case. It has to strike a balance between medical ethics, legitimate patient’s concerns and the constitutionality of the right to life. The Union government has opposed Virani’s plea.