Ernakulam: A 17-year-old has sought permission from the High Court to donate his liver to his father. Edison Skaria, a native of Kasargod Maloth, approached the High Court seeking permission to donate his liver to his father Edison. Edison’s father Skaria was suffering from severe liver disease and was undergoing treatment for a long time.
After being treated at the Ernakulam Lisie Hospital due to serious illness, the hospital authorities informed that it would not be possible to proceed for a long time with medicine alone and that the liver should be transplanted immediately. Addison and his family then searched for suitable liver donors but were unsuccessful. Thus it is found that Edison’s son’s liver matches his father’s. But the provisions of the Organ Transplantation Act do not allow the liver donation of a 17-year-old AD.
But Edison approached the Hon’ble Kerala High Court on the ground that under the Organ Donation Rules 5(3)(g) a minor can donate an organ with the permission of the appropriate medical authority in each state. The father himself represented the minor as his mother was in Kuwait. As it was against the interests of the minor and caused confusion in the court as to who was fit to represent the minor as the mother was abroad, the Hon’ble High Court sought the opinion of the amicus curiae and on the basis of the opinion of the amicus curiae accepted the uncle of the minor as the ‘nest friend’ of the minor as the representative.
On April 23, the High Court Single Bench reheard the said case for summer and directed the minor Edison to undergo a medical examination and assess his capacity to donate the liver. Considering the serious health condition of the father, the Hon’ble High Court has directed to conduct the said medical examination within 15 days. The decision of the honorable High Court has come as a relief to the family of Edison, who was uncertain due to the legal hurdle for liver donation. In the case, the eminent lawyer Adv vimala binu
