Reproduced from: https://www.indialegallive.com/viewpoint/cardio-pulmonary-resuscitation-easing-death-77719
published December 8, 2019
The Indian Council of
Medical Research will soon have guidelines for doctors on whether to perform
cardio-pulmonary resuscitation on patients with low survival chances. But are
they needed when the MCI and the apex court have already given extensive
guidelines?
Whether to pull
the plug or not on a terminally ill patient is often a vexed ethical question
for both relatives and physicians. The Indian Council of Medical Research
(ICMR) is soon set to finalise principles that will guide physicians on whether
to perform cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and put the patient on a
ventilator if he has an incurable disease where the survival chances are slim.
Currently, the
law applicable in this regard is MCI ethics regulation 6.7 which deals with
euthanasia. It says that practising euthanasia shall constitute unethical
conduct. However, on specific occasions, the question of withdrawing supporting
devices to sustain cardio-pulmonary function even after brain death shall be
decided only by a team of doctors and not merely by the treating physician.
A team of
doctors shall declare withdrawal of the support system and shall consist of the
doctor in charge of the patient, the chief medical officer/medical officer in
charge of the hospital and a doctor nominated by the in-charge of the hospital
from the staff there or in accordance with the provisions of the
Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994.
In Common Cause
versus Union of India, 2018, a Constitution bench of the Supreme Court led by
then CJI Dipak Misra held that an advance medical directive (AMD) would serve
as a good means to facilitate the fructification of the sacrosanct right to
life with dignity. The said directive will dispel many doubts during the course
of treatment of the patient. That apart, it will strengthen the mind of the
treating doctors as they will be in a position to ensure that they are acting
in a lawful manner. However, AMD cannot operate in abstraction. The judgment has
enumerated various safeguards and procedures of AMD, including who can execute
it and its contents. Some of the safeguards are:
·
In the event the executor becomes terminally ill
and is undergoing prolonged medical treatment with no hope of recovery and cure,
the treating physician when made aware about AMD shall ascertain the
genuineness and authenticity of it from a first class judicial magistrate
before acting on the same
·
Instructions in the document must be given due
weight by the doctors. However, this should be given effect only after there is
full satisfaction that the executor is terminally ill and undergoing prolonged
treatment or is surviving on life support and that his illness is incurable or
there is no hope of him getting cured.
·
If the physician treating the patient (executor of
the document) is satisfied that the instructions given in it need to be acted
upon, he shall inform the executor or his guardian/close relative about the
nature of illness, the availability of medical care and alternative forms of
treatment and the consequences of remaining untreated. He must also ensure that
he believes on reasonable grounds that the person in question understands the
information provided, has thought about the options and come to a firm view
that withdrawal or refusal of medical treatment is the best choice.
·
The physician/hospital where the executor has been
admitted for medical treatment shall then constitute a medical board consisting
of the head of the treating department and at least three experts from the
fields of general medicine, cardiology, neurology, nephrology, psychiatry or
oncology with experience in critical care and with overall standing in the
medical profession of at least 20 years. They, in turn, shall visit the patient
in the presence of his guardian /closerelative and form an opinion whether to
certify carrying out the instructions of withdrawal or refusal of further
medical treatment. This decision shall be regarded as a preliminary one.
There is a
distinction between the administration of lethal injection/certain medicines to
cause painless death and non-administration of certain treatments which can
prolong the life in cases where the process of dying is not reversible. The
first is an overt act, whereas the second would be informed consent and
authorised omission. An omission of such a nature will not invite any criminal
liability if it is guided by certain safeguards. The concept is based on
non-prolongation of life where there is no cure and where the patient under no
circumstances would have liked to be in such a degrading state.
In Common Cause
versus Union of India, the Constitution bench held that euthanasia is basically
an intentional premature termination of another person’s life, either by direct
intervention (active euthanasia) or by withholding life-prolonging measures and
resources (passive euthanasia) on the express or implied request of that person
or in the absence of it. Active euthanasia also includes physician-assisted
suicide, where injection or drugs is supplied by the physician. But the act of
administration is undertaken by the patient himself. Active euthanasia is not
permissible in most countries.
Passive
euthanasia occurs when medical practitioners do not provide life-sustaining
treatment or the patient is removed from such treatment. This could include
disconnecting life-support machines or feeding tubes or not carrying out
life-saving operations or providing such drugs. In such cases, the omission by
the medical practitioner is not treated as the cause of death; instead, the
patient is understood to have died because of his underlying condition.
With such
extensive guidelines, we as medical professionals fail to understand the need
to frame more guidelines in this regard. We are now in a dilemma about whether
to follow MCI’s guidelines or the Supreme Court’s legal guidelines.
The national
consultation meeting on “Do Not Attempt Resuscitation” (DNAR) under the
chairmanship of Prof Balram Bhargava, Director General, ICMR, and Secretary,
Department of Health Research, is scheduled soon. Dr Bhargava reportedly said:
“There are many terminally-ill patients who know they are not going to make it,
their relatives also know that they are not going to make it. The DNAR is just
a way for them to exercise the option of not being put on ventilator. Many
other countries have DNAR guidelines.”
DNAR is
different from physician-assisted dying where medication, a prescription,
information or other interventions are given to the patient with the
understanding that he intends to use them to commit suicide.
The World
Medical Association (WMA) this month reaffirmed its long-standing policy of
opposing euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. After an intensive process
of consultation with physicians and non-physicians around the world, the WMA
adopted a revised declaration on euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. It
stated: ‘The WMA reiterates its strong commitment to the principles of medical
ethics and that utmost respect has to be maintained for human life. Therefore,
the WMA is firmly opposed to euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.”
It added: “No
physician should be forced to participate in euthanasia or assisted suicide,
nor should any physician be obliged to make referral decisions to this end.”
The declaration
said: “Separately, the physician who respects the basic right of the patient to
decline medical treatment does not act unethically in forgoing or withholding
unwanted care, even if respecting such a wish results in the death of the
patient.”
The revised
declaration defines euthanasia as “a physician deliberately administering a
lethal substance or carrying out an intervention to cause the death of a
patient with decision-making capacity at the patient’s own voluntary request”.
It says that physician-assisted suicide “refers to cases in which, at the
voluntary request of a patient with decision-making capacity, a physician
deliberately enables a patient to end his or her own life by prescribing or
providing medical substances with the intent to bring about death”.
Dr KK Aggarwal
Padma Shri Awardee
President Confederation of Medical
Associations in Asia and Oceania (CMAAO)
Group Editor-in-Chief IJCP Publications
President Heart Care Foundation of
India
Past National President
IMA
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