

What does the SC verdict allowing passive euthanasia mean for India?
The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed India’s first court-approved “passive euthanasia”, permitting the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment for Harish Rana, a 32-year-old man who has remained in a permanent vegetative state for over a decade after a severe brain injury in 2013.The ruling is expected to have a far-reaching impact on Indian patients in prolonged vegetative states and their families, said legal and medical experts, encouraging more families to seek judicial approval for this.“Passive euthanasia” permits holding back life-saving treatment for individuals who are terminally ill or in a permanent vegetative state, allowing natural death. While passive euthanasia has been legal in India since 2018, the framework was streamlined in 2023 to ease the process.“This ruling could encourage more families of patients in prolonged vegetative states to approach courts for withdrawal of life support.
At the same time, the stringent medical board review process means courts will continue to scrutinise such pleas carefully,” said Tushar Agarwal, founder and managing partner at CLAP Juris.Dr. Sunil Khattri, surgeon and advocate, and managing partner, Dr Sunil Khattri and Associates, said the judgment could also improve awareness about end-of-life legal rights.“While the legal framework already existed, this judgment simplifies the procedure and could help raise greater awareness among families of patients in similar conditions,” he said.Passive euthanasia, recognized in 2018, can involve stopping ventilators, removing feeding tubes, or withholding life-prolonging medication when recovery is medically impossible.This is different from active euthanasia, which involves causing death through medical intervention, like
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