Euthanasia is also known as assisted suicide, mercy killing or happy release or quietus. Being a mode of taking one's own life, it is seen under the same legal lens as suicide. The term is often used to refer to assisted suicide that is deemed beneficial to the one suffering. In cases where someone is in excruciating, persistent & insufferable pain, the victimized individual is offered a way out of his/her misery. Euthanasia is a method or procedure that will end the pain but result in one’s death. This is considered a mercy killing. Advocates for assisted suicide believe that ending a person's unstoppable pain is a great & humane act of mercy. There is some sort of co-relation between suicide and euthanasia in the sense that both are types of voluntary ending of one's own life. While the attempt to commit suicide has been treated as a crime (unless it is proven that the person attempting to commit the act is of unsound mind), euthanasia is treated with a little more compassion by the lawmakers.
However, the efforts to change government policies on euthanasia in the 20th and 21st centuries have met limited success in Western countries. Human euthanasia policies have also been developed by a variety of NGOs, most notably medical associations advocating the cause. As of November 2017, human euthanasia has become legal in the countries like Netherlands, Belgium, Colombia, Luxembourg and Canada. Assisted suicide is legal in countries like Switzerland, Germany, Japan, and in various states of America like Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Vermont, Montana, Washington DC and California. South Korea is also about to join the cause, starting from February 2018, in both active and passive form.
Under criminal law in India, Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code actually classifies the act of attempted suicide as a crime punishable by law with imprisonment for a term of up to one year or a fine or both. In India, Passive Euthanasia is considered Legal. Passive euthanasia is a means by which a patient is "allowed" to die by a deliberate withdrawal of life sustaining treatment, in order to induce death. The practice of passive euthanasia is conducted under a willful neglect to sustain life. This allows the force of nature to take its course and allow the body to achieve a final halt.
By way of passive euthanasia, it is legal for doctors to withdraw life support to patients who are in a permanent vegetative state, as per the landmark judgment in Aruna Shanbaug's case. The law passed in the matter of Aruna Ramchandra Shanbaug v. The Union of India1, is a landmark Judgment in respect to euthanasia in India. The Honb'le Court opined in this case that "euthanasia is one of the most perplexing issues, which the courts and legislatures all over the world are facing today."
