EUTHANASIA

EUTHANASIA


Wasted body, coma deep,
He can’t steady breathing keep;
Ever on respirator,
In the heart, a pace maker;

Needles thrust in every vein,
He’s oblivious of pain.
Unconscious but quite stable,
Existence vegetable.

To vain hope yet clings the wife,
As long as he has some life.
She has been, for many months,
Tending to his groans and grunts.

Hospital bills are soaring.
It is no more assuring
To know he may continue
Like this for years quite a few.

Sons and daughters cannot shirk
From duties at home or work.
They have gone, praying in heart
That he may rather depart.

Doctors, also, share this thought.
Their efforts have come to naught.
But none dare say this aloud;
It won’t do a doctor proud.

Bound by Hippocratic Oath,
They have, in law, got to loath
His only panacea,
Known as euthanasia.


• Written in aabb, 7-7-7-7 syllabic format.

• Originally written as item 730847, which was deleted 12 March 2006 and replaced by entry 351048 (now deleted) in "SCIENCE, MEDICAL, LAW, HUMOR, CHILDREN" , SCIENCE, MEDICAL, LAW, HUMOR, CHILDREN. Re-posted as the present static item on 16 May 2007.
* The author is a doctor turned lawyer, specializing in medico-legal cases. Euthanasia, or mercy killing, is not permitted in India, as in most other countries.


M C Gupta
4 August 2003