Supreme Court allows passive euthanasia for Harish Rana after 13 years in coma

In a historic verdict, the Supreme Court has permitted passive euthanasia for Harish Rana, who has been in a coma for the past 13 years.

This marks the first-ever case of a court-ordered passive euthanasia in the country, under the legal framework laid down in its 2018 Common Cause judgment, updated in 2023.

The order, by a bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and KV Viswanathan, was passed while hearing a plea filed by the father of 32-year-old Harish Rana, who has remained in an irreversible vegetative state for 13 years after suffering a devastating fall from a building.

The incident happened in August 2013 in Chandigarh. He was a student at the time. He has been on artificial life support since the incident.

The bench directed that “the medical treatment, including Clinically Assisted Nutrition (CAN) being administered with the applicant, shall be withdrawn/ withheld”. It said the the process “must be carried out in a humane manner”, according to a report by the Indian Express.

The decision came on a plea by Rana’s family, seeking permission to withdraw his medical facilities in terms of the SC’s 2018 five-judge bench ruling recognising the legality of “passive euthanasia” for terminally-ill patients.

The bench asked the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, to admit Harish to its palliative care department. “So that the withdrawal and or withholding of the applicant’s medical treatment, including CAN, can be given effect to. For this purpose… AIIMS shall provide all necessary facilities for shifting him from his residence to the said palliative care department.”

“AIIMS must ensure that such withdrawal and or withholding is carried out through a robust, palliative, and end-of-life care plan which is specifically tailored to manage symptoms without causing any discomfort to the applicant and ensuring that his dignity is preserved to the highest degree,” said the bench, according to IE.

The judgement laid down detailed guidelines for passive euthanasia, both in cases where the patient left an “advance directive” or “living will” stating that life support should be withdrawn if they slipped into terminal illness, and where no such directive was left behind.