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New Delhi: The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, has begun implementing a Supreme Court order permitting passive euthanasia for 31-year-old Harish Rana, who has been in a vegetative state for over a decade. Doctors said the process, which involves the gradual withdrawal of life-sustaining support, is expected to take more than a week.
A specialised medical board headed by Dr Seema Mishra, Professor and Head of the Department of Anaesthesia and Palliative Medicine at AIIMS, has been constituted to oversee the procedure. The board includes doctors from the departments of neurosurgery, onco-anaesthesia and palliative medicine, and psychiatry.
Rana was shifted from his home in Ghaziabad to the palliative care unit of the Dr B. R. Ambedkar Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital at AIIMS on March 14 to begin the process.
Supreme Court Nod
On March 11, the Supreme Court allowed passive euthanasia for Rana, who was a BTech student at Panjab University when he suffered severe head injuries after falling from a fourth-floor balcony in 2013. Since then, he has remained in a coma and survives on artificial nutrition and intermittent oxygen support.
The court directed AIIMS to prepare a customised medical plan to withdraw life support in a manner that preserves the patient’s dignity.
It clarified that the decision does not amount to active euthanasia, which involves administering substances to end life intentionally. Instead, the process involves the gradual withdrawal of life-sustaining measures, such as the feeding tube, allowing death to occur naturally.
Doctors said the procedure will focus on palliative care, ensuring pain relief, comfort and emotional support while discontinuing medical interventions that artificially prolong life.
Once the process is complete, Rana’s body will be handed over to his family for the last rites.
Legal Background: Passive Euthanasia in India
India’s legal framework on euthanasia evolved through landmark Supreme Court rulings over the past decade. In 2011, in the case involving nurse Aruna Shanbaug, who had remained in a vegetative state for 42 years after a brutal assault, the Supreme Court recognised the concept of passive euthanasia under strict judicial supervision.
The court later expanded the framework in 2018, recognising the right to die with dignity as part of the fundamental right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution. The judgment also allowed individuals to make “living wills” specifying their wishes regarding life-sustaining treatment in case they become terminally ill or incapacitated.
Subsequent clarifications by the court simplified the procedure for implementing living wills and passive euthanasia, requiring approval from medical boards and hospital authorities rather than direct court intervention in every case.
The Rana case is significant because it is among the rare instances where the Supreme Court has directly allowed passive euthanasia in an individual case and tasked a hospital with implementing the process.
Emotional Moments
Meanwhile, a video circulating on social media from the Rana family’s home in Ghaziabad shows a member of the Brahma Kumaris placing a tilak on Rana’s forehead and gently asking him to forgive everyone and rest peacefully. The woman in the video has been identified as Sister Lovely of the Brahma Kumaris. Doctors said the medical team will continue to monitor the patient closely throughout the process to ensure comfort and dignity are maintained.
