What Is Passive Euthanasia?

With the landmark judgment by the Supreme Court today recognizing 'living will' made by terminally-ill patients for passive euthanasia, it gave rise to a debate whether it is morally right or not. A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra on Friday said passive euthanasia and advance living will are "permissible".

By declaring the right to die with dignity as a fundamental right, the top court passed an order allowing passive euthanasia in the country. But what exactly does passive euthanasia mean remains unknown to many.

Euthanasia is the practice of intentionally ending a life to relieve pain and suffering or a deliberate intervention undertaken with the express intention of ending a life, to relieve intractable suffering.

The term "passive euthanasia" used by the Supreme Court in its verdict today is defined as the withdrawal of medical treatment with the deliberate intention to hasten a terminally ill-patient's death. It is the act of hastening the death of a terminally-ill patient by altering some form of support and letting nature take its course, according to medical terminologies.

Active euthanasia occurs when the doctors, or another person, deliberately do something that causes the patient to die. Giving the patient large doses of morphine to control pain in spite of the likelihood that the painkiller can cause fatal respiratory problems is an example of active euthanasia.

Passive Euthanasia can occur in instances like not giving life-extending drugs, not carrying out a life-extending operation, disconnecting a feeding tube or switching off life-support machines among various other medical practices.

Although it is widely argued that passive euthanasia is equivalent to killing a person directly, the real difference lies in the “intention” the doctors have at the time of causing the death.

In active euthanasia the doctor takes an action with the intention that it will cause the patient's death, whereas in passive euthanasia the doctor lets the patient lose his/her life, when they carry out an action with the intention that it will cause the patient's death.