Woman withdraws plea in Delhi HC to stop friend from travelling abroad for euthanasia

New Delhi: A woman in Delhi High Court on Thursday withdrew her plea which sought direction from the ministry of external affairs (MEA) not to grant emigration clearance to a friend, who is supposed to travel to abroad for euthanasia (physician-assisted suicide). The lawyer Subhash Chandran KR appeared for the petitioner woman and apprised the bench of Justice Yashwant Varma that he had instructions to withdraw the petition after the woman got to know that her friend was deeply traumatised by the filing of the case. The petitioner earlier alleged that her friend has made false claims before Indian as well as foreign authorities for getting travel permissions. Petitioner submitted that her friend is diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome which is a complex, debilitating, long-term neuroinflammatory disease. It is a poorly understood condition and it is in the early stages of research, stated plea. Petitioner Sindhu MK, through Advocate Subhash Chandran KR, sought direction from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to constitute a medical board to examine the medical condition of Gaurav Kashyap and also provide necessary medical assistance by considering his peculiar health condition.

According to the petitioner, her friend was going through a treatment called fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) in AIIMS which was promising and gave significant improvement. FMT is considered to be a safe, promising and effective treatment method for CFS-related problems as the results show a high success rate. However, he could not continue it during the pandemic situation due to donor availability issues and this affects his confidence and hope.

The plea further stated that there are no financial constraints for providing her friend with better treatments within India or abroad. But he is now adamant about his decision to go for euthanasia, which also affects the life of age-old parents miserably. The plea also stated that the patient friend managed to get a Schengen visa which provides free and unrestricted journey within the 26 European countries including Belgium and Switzerland by providing false information to Indian as well as foreign agencies. It is pertinent to mention that he obtained a Schengen visa under the pretext of a namesake treatment in a clinic in Belgium. He travelled to Zurich, Switzerland (15/16 June, 2022) via Belgium (13/14 June, 2022) for the first round of psychological evaluation from 11 to 18 June, 2022. According to the information received by the petitioner, his application was accepted by Dignitas, first evaluation was approved and now awaiting the final decision by end of August 2022, read the plea. The plea further stated that the most common symptom is extreme tiredness. ME/CFS can affect anyone, including children. Studies say it is more common in women and tends to develop in the mid-40s. It’s also common for people who have chronic fatigue syndrome to also have other health problems at the same time, such as sleep disorders, irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, depression or anxiety. These being the nature of the disease, treatment focus on symptom relief. Also read: _**Woman moves HC to stop close friend to travel abroad for euthanasia: What the rules in India say**_ _**Delhi: Woman files plea in HC to stop friend from travelling abroad for euthanasia**_   Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.