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 points
- Goa is the first state to implement and operationalise advance medical directives.
- The Supreme Court had in 2018 legalised passive euthanasia, contingent upon the person having a “living will.”
- The living is 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.
- As per the guidelines, a person who wants to make a living will must draft it as per the reference format in the presence of two witnesses.
- The will then has to be duly certified by a gazetted officer or a notary, and forwarded to the main Mamlatdar of the taluka, who shall then send it to the nodal officer appointed by the District Collector for safe custody.
