Bangladeshi father seeks mercy killing of sons, grandson
DHAKA: Desperate to end their suf fering, an impoverished Bangladeshi father has begged permission to kill three terminally ill members of his family, sparking a rare debate about euthanasia in a deeply conservative society.
“I have taken care of them for years. I took them to hospitals in Bangladesh and India, I sold my shop to pay for their treatment but now I’m broke,” said Tofazzal Hossain as he describes his yearslong struggle to cope with the costs of looking after his two sons and grandson.
“The government should decide what it wants to do with them. They are suffering and have no hope of recovery. I can’t bear it any longer.”
Hossain, a fruit vendor from the rural west of the country, wrote to his local district administration pleading for them to either help care for his loved ones — who suffer from an incurable form of muscular dystrophy — or “allow them to be put to death with medicine”, he told AFP.
One of Asia’s poorest countries, Bangladesh lacks any kind of free health care and medical treatment is often beyond the reach of the tens of millions of inhabitants who live below the poverty line.
An estimated 600,000 Bangladesh is suffer from incurable diseases, yet the country has just one palliative care centre and no hospice services.
This leaves few treatment options for Hossain’s sons, aged 24 and 13, and eight- year- old grandson, who are afflicted with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.
This rare genetic disorder is characterised by progressive muscle degeneration and patients rarely live beyond 30 years of age. — AFP