- The Delhi High Court, while dealing with a petition filed by a woman seeking permission from the Court to donate her kidney to her father, stated that spousal consent is not a requisite to donate organs to a relative.
- The petitioner approached the court after her application to donate her kidney to her ailing father was not processed by the hospital for want of her husband’s consent.
- The hospital administration asked her to obtain an NOC signed by her husband to be able to donate an organ which she cannot furnish as her relationship with her husband is distant and therefore, obtaining the same is not possible.
- The Delhi High Court observed that a wife has full control over her body and there is no need for her to seek the consent of her spouse to donate an organ.
- Justice Yashwant Sharma, while interpreting relevant provisions of the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Rules, 2014 and the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994 said that a husband is not a superior authority who can dictate complete autonomy over wife’s body.
- Justice Sharma further said that the decision to donate an organ is a personal and conscious decision which can only be taken by the donor and spousal consent is not mandatory for the same.
- Activities such as organ donation and transplantation comes under the ambit of the Transplantation of Human Organ Act (THO) which was passed in India in 1994.
- Section 2(f) of THO says that ‘donor’ means any person, not less than eighteen years of age, who voluntarily authorises the removal of any of his human organs for therapeutic purposes.
- The Court also took notice of Rule 18 which deals with the procedure in case of near relatives and Rule 22 which deals with the precautions in case of woman donor and held that no requirement is made out for the consent of a spouse in either case. The rule does not necessitate any NOC to be signed by the spouse for the same.
- The Delhi High Court made it clear in its order on Monday that there is NO requirement to seek spousal consent if a wife wishes to donate an organ to a close relative in accordance with the law.
- The Court further said that a woman is not a property of er husband and has the right to exercise full autonomy over her own body. If she wishes to donate an organ, she can do so and the act of the hospital staff asking the woman to furnish an NOC is wrong and unjustified.
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