Supreme Court allows passive euthanasia for 32-year-old man in coma for over 12 years
Passive euthanasia is the act of deliberately allowing a patient to die by discontinuing or withdrawing life support or the treatment necessary to keep him or her alive.
Harish Rana suffered a head injury after falling from the fourth floor of a building in 2013 and was in a coma for over a decade.Also Read: Primary responsibility of states: Government on the implementation of passive euthanasia in the healthcare system
A bench comprising justices JB Pardiwala and KV Viswanathan directed the AIIMS to allow Rana’s admission to palliative care so that medical treatment could be withdrawn. The board said that his withdrawal should be ensured with a special plan to preserve dignity.
The high court had earlier expressed the 31-year-old man’s desire to meet his parents. He had reviewed a report submitted by the board of secondary medical doctors at AIIMS-Delhi, containing Rana’s medical history, and said it was a “regrettable” report.
The primary medical board, after reviewing the patient’s condition, emphasized that the chances of recovery were negligible.
The high court had on December 11 noted that the man was in a “deplorable condition” as per the primary medical board’s report.
According to the guideline to be published by the Supreme Court in 2023, primary and secondary health committees will need to be established to obtain expert opinions on discontinuing artificial life support for a patient in a vegetative state.
