"Violent attack prompts Indian law on passive euthanasia of patients" by Rama Lakshmi, Washington Post January 18, 2015
NEW DELHI — Aruna Shanbaug was working as a nurse in Mumbai when she was brutally raped and assaulted by a co-worker — an attack that left her in a vegetative state for the past four decades. Her case inspired a bestselling book and sparked a heated debate about euthanasia in India.
Now, a law has taken effect that might help Indians facing a similar tragedy. But it still might not alter Shanbaug’s condition. Last month, India adopted a landmark Supreme Court decision to allow “passive euthanasia” for patients who are in a permanent vegetative state or are declared brain-dead.
The procedure involves withdrawing medical treatment and allowing death to occur — as opposed to “active euthanasia,” in which a life is ended through a lethal dosage of drugs or other means. A handful of other countries, such as Sweden and the Netherlands, have similar legislation.
In a culture steeped in traditional notions of karma, destiny, and duty, the new law is unlikely to be widely invoked, some say. In Shanbaug’s case, hospital staff are vowing they will continue to care for her.
“Euthanasia does not even enter our minds as a thought. It does not exist in our vocabulary. Everybody in the hospital loves Aruna so much,” said Shubhangi Parkar, dean of the KEM Hospital and Medical College where Shanbaug worked.
Her family abandoned her years ago, and the hospital is fighting to keep her alive. “The nurses go out of the way to care for her, celebrating festivals in her room, keeping her clean. They spend personal time with her even after duty hours,” Parkar said.
Shanbaug’s saga began in 1973, when she was raped and choked with a dog chain by a janitor. The incident left her blind, deaf, suffering from a severe brain stem injury. Shanbaug, now 66, has not responded to people for decades. Her attacker was convicted of attempted murder but not rape. He served six years in prison.
Shanbaug’s condition moved author Pinki Virani to write a popular book about her in 1998. Eleven years later, Virani went to the Supreme Court to plead for passive euthanasia for Shanbaug.
In her five-year crusade, Virani faced extensive criticism from the hospital’s nurses as well as from religious figures, she recalled.
But the euthanasia issue was widely debated. And slowly, Virani said, there was a perceptible shift away from the “crushing emotional burden of duty” to individual rights.
A medical team appointed by the Supreme Court examined Shanbaug and declared in 2011 that she showed all the signs of being in a “permanent vegetative state.”
But the hospital fought in court against ending Shanbaug’s treatment. The court eventually passed a judgment permitting passive euthanasia in India. The judges said Shanbaug’s primary caregiver was the Mumbai hospital, however — so it can choose whether to pursue euthanasia.
Last month, India’s health minister, J.P. Nadda, confirmed the judgment in Parliament, saying the ruling should now be “followed and treated as law.”
The debate generated by Virani’s court case also affected the antirape law that India passed two years ago. The measure treats a violent act that leaves a victim in a vegetative state as on par with murder.
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Related: 21st-Century Schiavo
Also see: Indian activist on hunger strike to be free
"Obama released a statement Friday praising Abdullah for his efforts to bring peace to the region and to improve education in his nation. The United States has depended on Saudi Arabia for decades as a reliable friend in the region and supplier of much-needed oil."
So Obama snubs India?
Related: New Saudi King is Smart
NDU (apparently I am not):
"In visit, Obama cites strides in India-US talks" by Peter Baker, New York Times January 26, 2015
NEW DELHI — President Obama swept aside past friction with India on Sunday to report progress on climate change and civilian nuclear power cooperation as he sought to transform a fraught relationship marked by suspicion into an enduring partnership linking the world’s oldest and largest democracies.
Wow, is that paragraph every a handful.
Beginning a three-day visit rich in symbolism and pageantry, Obama emerged from hours of discussions with his counterpart, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with what he called “a breakthrough understanding” to finally overcome years of deadlock that have prevented American firms from building nuclear reactors in India.
I'm tired of the imagery and illusion of the propaganda pre$$. Sorry.
The president and Modi also renewed a 10-year defense pact, agreed to joint military hardware production, and resolved to work together to reduce the threat of greenhouse gas emissions.
But the climate agreement included mostly minor initiatives compared with the deal that Obama made with China in November, and it was unclear whether American companies would agree that the nuclear pact offered sufficient protection from potential liability in the case of mishaps to justify the investment.
Still, the $yboli$m.
Still, the atmosphere of amity was palpable....
Obama’s visit, his second as president, is a major event in India. Despite lingering distrust in many parts of the government, largely over Washington’s history of support for rival Pakistan, the United States enjoys widespread popularity among the general population.
For weeks, the Hindi news media has dissected details of Obama’s planned visit.
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In one development, Obama plans to cut the visit short by several hours and skip a tour of the Taj Mahal, India’s most iconic site, on Tuesday in order to fly to Saudi Arabia to pay respects to the family of King Abdullah, who died Friday.
Shortly after landing, Obama headed to Rajghat for a wreath-laying and tree-planting ceremony at the memorial to Mahatma Gandhi, the father of modern India. Obama’s tree was planted on the other side of a walkway from one planted by Bill Clinton during his own presidential visit in 2000.
The insulting irony of it all makes me want to have a beer.
That those two war criminals, especially the current torturer and drone missile dropper as well as mass-murderer (I'm sorry; there is no other way to see it. It's the truth), would stand there and.... ah.
On Sunday evening, Obama was the guest of honor at a state dinner hosted by Modi, who was returning the favor after a visit to the White House in September.
You want to honor Gandhi? Fast! Then you could join hundreds of thousands of Indians who receive an enforced one every day by dint of poverty.
I could go find the reciprocal link, but why bother anymore when you can?
On Monday, Obama will be the chief guest at the annual Republic Day parade marking the anniversary of the day India’s Constitution went into force, the first time a US president has been honored with that role.
The display of friendship contrasts the state of the relationship just a year ago, after the arrest and strip search of an Indian diplomat accused of exploiting a housekeeper in New York.
More links or scrolls you can look for; however, the disrespectful treatment was akin to sexual abuse and torture.
Obama and Modi have made it a priority to move beyond that dispute, even though some advocacy groups fretted that meant Washington would turn away from serious human rights issues.
That's a laugher seeing as the United States government tortured people, number one. Then there is the litany of war crimes after lies were told to begin conflicts, the chemical weapons uses, the airstrikes, etc, etc.
A breakthrough on the nuclear issue would provide both leaders a tangible achievement from the visit....
Yeah, let's hope the pageantry of the moment produces some symbolism.
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