Aruna Shanbaug
is a former nurse at KEM Hospital (mumbai). In 1973, while working as a junior
nurse at KEM Hospital,Parel (MUMBAI), she was sexually assaulted by a ward
boy, and has been in a vegetative state since the assault. On 24
January 2011, after she had been in this status for 37 years, the Supreme
cort of india responded to the plea for euthanasia filed by
Aruna's friend, by setting up a medical panel to examine her. The court turned
down the mercy killing petition on 7 March 2011. However in its landmark judgment,
it allowed passive
euthanasia in India.
Attack and trial
Aruna was planning to get married to a medic in the
hospital.
On the night of 27 November 1973, Shanbaug was sexually
assaulted by a sweeper on contract at the King Edward Memorial
Hospital. He attacked her and choked her with a dog chain and
sodomized her. The asphyxiation cut off oxygen supply to her
brain, resulting in brain stem contusion injury and cervical cord injury apart
from leaving her cortically blind.
The police case was registered as a case
of robbery and attempted murder on account of the
concealment of anal rape by the doctors under the instructions of the
Dean of KEM, perhaps to avoid the social rejection of the victim,and
her impending marriage.
Nurses' strike
Following the attack, nurses in Mumbai went
on strike demanding improved conditions for Shanbaug and better
working conditions for themselves.In the 1980s the BMC made two
attempts to move Shanbaug outside the KEM Hospital to free the bed
she has been occupying for seven years. KEM nurses launched a protest, and the
BMC abandoned the plan.
Supreme Court case
Since the assault in 1973, she has been in
a vegetative state.
On December 17, 2010, Supreme Court while admitting the
plea to end the life made by Aruna's friend , sought a report on
Shanbaug's medical condition from the hospital in Mumbai and
the government of Maharashtra. On 24 January 2011, the Supreme Court
of India responded to the plea for euthanasia filed by Aruna's
friend, by setting up a medical panel to examine her.The three-member medical
committee subsequently set up under the Supreme Court's directive, checked upon
Aruna and concluded that she met "most of the criteria of being in a
permanent vegetative state".
However, it turned down the mercy killing petition on 7
March 2011. The court, in its landmark judgement, however allowed passive
euthanasia in India.
While rejecting Aruna's friend plea for Aruna
Shanbaug's euthanasia, the court laid out guidelines for passive euthanasia.
According to these guidelines, passive euthanasia involves the withdrawing of
treatment or food that would allow the patient to live.
Response
Following the Supreme Court judgment rejecting the plea,
her colleagues, the nursing staff at the hospital, who had opposed the
petition, and who had been looking after her since she had lapsed into coma,
distributed sweets and cut a cake to celebrate what they termed her
"rebirth". A senior nurse at the hospital later said, "We have
to tend to her just like a small child at home. She only keeps aging like any
of us, does not create any problems for us. We take turns looking after her and
we love to care for her. How can anybody think of taking her life?"
Aruna's friends lawyer ruled out filing an appeal stating
"the two-judge ruling was final till the SC decided to constitute a larger
bench to re-examine the issue". Aruna's friend herself stated, "Because
of this woman who has never received justice, no other person in a similar
position will have to suffer for more than three and a half-decades"
No comments:
Post a Comment