THE Supreme Court expressed its desire on Thursday to meet the parents of a 31-year-old man, lying in a comatose condition for more than 12 years, while considering his father’s plea for passive euthanasia by withdrawing artificial life support. The man suffered head injuries after falling from the fourth floor of a building in 2013. He is on an artificial support system for more than 12 years now.

 

Passive euthanasia is the intentional act of letting a patient die by withholding or withdrawing life support or the treatment necessary to keep him alive. A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and K V Viswanathan perused a report containing Harish Rana’s medical history filed by a secondary medical board of doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here and remarked that it is a “sad” report. “It is a very sad report. We cannot keep this boy in this stage,” the bench observed while scheduling a meeting with Rana’s parents at 3 pm on January 13. The court was hearing a plea filed by Ashok Rana, seeking judicial intervention to withdraw life support for his son. The primary medical board, after examining the patient’s condition, had stressed the negligible chance of his recovery. The top court had, on December 11, noted that according to the report of the primary medical board, the man is in a pathetic condition.

 

“He was found to be lying on a bed with treacheostomy tube for respiration and gastrostomy for feeding. The photographs attached with the letter would indicate that he has suffered huge bed sores. The team of doctors is of the opinion that the chance of his recovery from the present state is negligible. Harish appears to be in this vegetative condition for the past 13 years,” the court had noted. According to guidelines issued by the apex court in 2023, a primary and a secondary medical board will have to be formed for an expert opinion on the withdrawal of artificial life support for a patient in a vegetative state.