In a landmark verdict, the High Court of Punjab and Haryana last week ruled that the family of a terminally ill patient, who stops treatment against medical advice, cannot be denied insurance claim on that ground. Upholding the payment of Rs. 35.46 lakh in damages, Justice K. Kannan observed, “There have been instances where due to religious beliefs (for instance, Jehovah’s witnesses’ denial of blood transfusion), patients have declined to take treatment and courts have confronted these problems as well and come to decisions of hands off approach. That is precisely what has been also recorded in the discharge summary that the patient was getting discharged at his own risk and has assured that he will have no right of recourse against the doctor from the hospital. The undertaking will thus go far and no further. It will not exculpate a tort feasor or a person who is bound to indemnify to make possible a plea that the patient ought to have taken treatment. A right not to get treated is j...