All hospitals should help patients sign living wills

Hinduja Hospital's move to offer this service should be replicated across the healthcare sector, especially by India's many private hospitals. This legal option must not languish in obscurity

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End-of-life hospitalization can be traumatic not just for the emotional suffering, but also the financial stress it may involve. Families of patients already coping with the imminent loss of a loved one are sometimes made to bear crippling bills for life support even when the person has no hope of recovery. This may not be what the patient desires. Yet, painful as terminal cases are, doctors are duty-bound to serve the patient's health while few patients seem aware of our legal right to refuse being kept alive artificially. A Supreme Court order in 2018 granted us discretion over this decision if we explicitly say so in a 'living will' (or 'advance medical directive').