New Delhi, Mar 11: The Supreme Court on Wednesday permitted passive euthanasia for a 32-year-old man who has been in a coma for over 12 years by allowing the withdrawal of his artificial life support.
Passive euthanasia refers to the deliberate decision to let a patient die by withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment.
Harish Rana sustained severe head injuries after falling from the fourth floor of a building in 2013 and has remained in a comatose state since then.
A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and K V Viswanathan directed AIIMS to admit Rana to palliative care so that his medical treatment can be withdrawn. The court emphasised that the withdrawal should follow a structured plan to ensure that his dignity is maintained.
Earlier, the Supreme Court expressed its intention to meet the patient’s parents and reviewed a report detailing Rana’s medical history, filed by a secondary medical board of doctors from AIIMS-Delhi, describing the situation as “sad.”
The primary medical board had previously examined Rana and stated that the chances of recovery were negligible. The court had noted on December 11 that, according to the primary medical board’s report, Rana was in a “pathetic condition.”
As per the apex court’s 2023 guidelines, both a primary and a secondary medical board must be constituted to provide expert opinions on withdrawing artificial life support for patients in a vegetative state. (Agency)
