The Hindu : Front Page : "My son is gone but my fight for his cause will go on"

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 18, 2004

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"My son is gone but my fight for his cause will go on"

By T. Lalith Singh

HYDERABAD, DEC.17. K. Venkatesh, the muscular dystrophy patient whose case set off a debate following his request for euthanasia in order to be able to donate his organs, died in hospital here on Friday.

According to doctors at Global Hospital, where the 25-year-old chess enthusiast spent his last few days on a ventilator, the end came around 5 a.m. The cornea was harvested and taken by the L.V. Prasad Eye Hospital for transplant.

The other vital organs — kidneys, liver and lungs — could not be used for transplantation as infection had set in, doctors said. "The infection was caused due to the extended use of a ventilator," a hospital spokesman said. The body was shifted to his home at Mehdipatnam. Venkatesh's mother, K. Sujatha, keeping her poise, said: "My son wanted to donate his organs but his wish was not fulfilled. He is gone, but my fight on this issue will continue. The attitude on euthanasia and organ transplant has to change and I will not relent till then."

Following a plea made by her, the Andhra Pradesh High Court had on Thursday ordered the setting up of a committee to reconsider the plea for mercy killing to enable Venkatesh to donate his organs. A committee constituted earlier under the Andhra Pradesh Transplantation of Human Organ Act had decided that Sujatha's request cannot be conceded as her son was not brain dead.

The last rites were performed at the cremation grounds in Mehdipatnam.

Fulfilling one of her son's last wishes, one that was in her own hands unlike his euthanasia plea, Ms. Sujatha lit the pyre.

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