K'taka Enacts SC Order on Right to Die with Dignity

The State Has Come Out with Advance Medical Directive Where a Patient Can Record Their Wishes About Their Treatment

- HT Correspondent

BENGALURU: The Karnataka health department has issued orders to implement the Supreme Court's 2023 directive regarding a patient's right to die with dignity, becoming the first state to do so.

In orders issued on Thursday, the health department appointed medical experts to the secondary medical board to decide when life-sustaining treatment can be stopped for terminally ill patients.

Making the announcement on Friday, state health minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said in a post on X: "My Karnataka Health Department, @DHFWKA, passes a historic order to implement the Supreme Court's directive for a patient's Right to Die with dignity."

The department has also come out with an Advance Medical Directive (AMD), or a living will, in which a patient can record their wishes about their medical treatment in the future, he said.

This important step, the minister said, will bring great relief and a dignified sense of closure to many families and individuals.