Aruna Shanbaug, a former nurse at Mumbai’s King Edward Memorial Hospital has passed away, two days after she was put on ventilator support.s. Shanbaug was raped by a hospital ward boy in 1973, in a most heinous incident which involved her being gagged by a dog chain, substantially cutting off oxygen and blood supply to her brain, rendering her completely indisposed.
Since then the staff of the hospital had been taking care of her, while she lay confined to her bed.
In January, 2011, the Supreme Court turned down the plea for euthanasia filed by Shanbaug’s friend and journalist Pinki Virani. The court ordered a medical panel to be set up, and declined the petition thereafter, stating the hospital employees “are taking excellent care of her and want her to live”.
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