This Gynaecologist Has Become The First Mumbai Resident To Submit A Living Will: Here Is What It Means

Dr. Nikhil Datar, a Mumbai-based Gynaecologist has become the first person in the city to submit a living will to a custodian.

Dr. Datar, who is also a rights campaigner submitted his living will to the BMC-appointed custodian on Friday.

Dr Nikhil Datar

What is a living will

A living will is a written statement that details a person’s desire regarding future medical procedures or termination of medical support when an individual is incapacitated.

In 2018 the Supreme Court had recognised the right to die with dignity as an inextricable facet of the right to live with dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution and had upheld the legal validity of passive euthanasia.?

How to submit a living will

In 2023, the SC said that a living will should be signed by the executor in the presence of two attesting witnesses, preferably independent, and attested before a notary or gazetted officer.

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"It should specify the name of a guardian(s) or close relative(s) who, in the event of the executor becoming incapable of taking decisions at the relevant time, will be authorised to give consent to refuse or withdraw medical treatment in a manner consistent with the advance directive," the SC had said.

According to the top court's original order in 2018, a living will had to be signed by the person making it, in the presence of two witnesses and a judicial magistrate of first class (JMFC).

Dr Datar's fight for living will

Following the SC directive, Dr. Datar had submitted his living will to the BMC for safekeeping.

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But after he failed to get any response from the civic body, Dr. Datar filed a PIL in January in the Bombay High Court seeking direction to implement the SC's new guidelines on living will.

Six weeks after Dr Datar approached HC, the Maharashtra government appointed 417 custodians across municipal corporations and panchayats and his living will was accepted on Friday.

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