A look at the Harish Rana case: Court clearance, AIIMS protocol, and next steps

The 31-year-old was transferred on Saturday from his Ghaziabad home to the palliative care unit at Dr BR Ambedkar Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital, AIIMS

• Supreme Court allows passive euthanasia for Harish Rana
• AIIMS-Delhi begins India's first passive euthanasia process
• Life support to be withdrawn gradually under medical supervision

Did our AI summary help?

In a landmark verdict, the Supreme Court of India allowed passive euthanasia for 31-year-old Harish Rana, who has been in a vegetative state for the past 13 years.

Rana, from Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad, has remained in a coma since 2013, after sustaining a severe head injury from a fall from the fourth floor of his paying guest accommodation while he was an engineering student in Chandigarh.

AIIMS-Delhi begins process for first-ever passive euthanasia

Protocols have been initiated at AIIMS-Delhi to implement the Supreme Court’s verdict allowing passive euthanasia for Rana, a procedure that is expected to take two to three weeks.

The 31-year-old was transferred on Saturday from his Ghaziabad home to the palliative care unit at Dr BR Ambedkar Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital, AIIMS for the carefully monitored process.

A specialised medical team headed by Dr Seema Mishra, professor and head of the department of anaesthesia and palliative medicine, has been constituted to implement the process, the first ever in India, according to a report by PTI.

The team comprises doctors from departments of neurosurgery, onco-anaesthesia and palliative medicine, and psychiatry.

Rana, who has remained in a coma since 2013, has so far been supported by artificial nutrition and intermittent oxygen. The apex court directed AIIMS-Delhi to withdraw life support under a carefully designed plan to ensure his dignity is respected.

"The process generally involves withholding or withdrawing the nutritional support gradually while ensuring adequate pain relief. The patient is given palliative sedation so that he or she is not in distress. Life support measures such as artificial nutrition, oxygen and medications are slowly withdrawn. The aim is not to prolong nor hasten death,” Dr Sushma Bhatnagar, former head of the department of onco-anaesthesia, pain and palliative care, AIIMS-Delhi, told PTI.

Footage from the Rana residence in Ghaziabad, shared extensively across social media platforms, showed relatives praying as a member of the Brahma Kumaris gently placed a ‘tilak’ on Harish’s forehead, whispering, “Sabko maaf karte hue, sabse maafi mangte hue, so jaao… theek hai” — asking for forgiveness, offering forgiveness, and softly telling him to rest.

In passive euthanasia, withdrawing medically assisted nutrition and hydration starts a slow process in which the body gradually ceases to function. For some patients, death may occur within 15 days, while in others it may take a month or more, depending on their individual response.