India figured 39th in a list of 40 countries evaluated for ‘quality of death’ in an international study conducted by the Economic Intelligence Unit in 2012
Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine (ISCCM) and Indian Association of Palliative Care (IAPC) came together on the occasion of ISCCM Foundation Day (October 9, 2014) and World Palliative Care Day (October 11, 2014) for creating awareness and establishing consensus about difficult ethical, legal and medical issues in “End of Life Care” in India along with senior doctors from ISCCM, IAPC, other medical societies, National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Organizations (NABH), and senior members of legal fraternity.
The theme for the ISCCM day, jointly celebrated with the World Palliative Care Day was “We must know when to stop the care of the terminally ill patient in ICU ”“Who cares? – We do” “Together we choose”
India figured 39th in a list of 40 countries evaluated for ‘quality of death’ in an international study conducted by the Economic Intelligence Unit in 2012.
Explaining about the issue, Dr Rajesh Chawla, Chancellor Indian College of critical care medicine said, “Recently there has been discussion on the controversial issue of euthanasia. The medical profession does not endorse euthanasia but wishes to draw the attention of the public to a more important issue which is referred to as end of life care. All over the world there has been a movement away from applying aggressive treatment to persons dying from incurable disease. By current estimates such deliberate withholding or withdrawal of life support happens in 75 – 90 per cent of ICU deaths. This practice is called limiting life support or foregoing of life support that is applied in many countries with appropriate supportive legal framework.”
ISCCM aims to play an important role in this debate and facilitate the development of appropriate laws by parliament. To this end, ISCCM has intervened in the case before the Supreme Court with an impleadment motion filed by ISCCM.
ISCCM and IAPC had published a joint position statement in the September 2014 issue of the Indian Journal of Critical Care Medicine . The two societies intend to involve other national medical societies in this effort.