High Court judge becomes first in Goa to register ‘living will’
- Justice M S Sonak, who serves on the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court, became the first person in Goa to register a “living will” - an advance medical directive for his family for when he cannot make his own decisions.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- The Supreme Court had in 2018 legalised passive euthanasia, contingent upon the person having a “living will”, or a written document
- that specifies the actions to be taken if the person is unable to make their own medical decisions in the future.
- The Supreme Court had allowed passive euthanasia while recognising the living wills of terminally-ill patients who could go into a permanent vegetative state and issued guidelines regulating the procedure.
- In 2023, the Supreme Court eased the process for passive euthanasia by changing certain existing guidelines for living wills.
- “Goa is the first state that has formalised, to some extent, the implementation of directives issued by the Supreme Court.
- Officials said Goa is the first state to implement and operationalise advance medical directives.
PRELIMS TAKEAWAY
- living will
- passive euthanasia