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Supreme Court Mulls India's First Passive Euthanasia Case
12 Dec
Summary
- Supreme Court ordered AIIMS to form a secondary medical board.
- A 31-year-old man has been in a vegetative state for over a decade.
- The case may become India's first judicially sanctioned passive euthanasia.
The Supreme Court has directed the formation of a secondary medical board at AIIMS, New Delhi, to examine the case of a 31-year-old man in a vegetative state for over a decade. This review is crucial as it could lead to India's first judicially sanctioned passive euthanasia. The man, suffering from severe quadriplegia and extensive bedsores, shows no signs of recovery.
The court expressed deep concern over the patient's condition, noting that bedsores indicate poor hygiene and irreversible deterioration. This directive follows a primary medical board's grim assessment, which deemed recovery 'negligible.' The secondary board's opinion is the next step in the legal process established by the Supreme Court's Common Cause judgment.
Passive euthanasia, legal in India since 2018, allows for the withdrawal of life support for terminally ill or irreversibly vegetative patients after a thorough medical and judicial review. The man's parents, who previously had their plea rejected by the Delhi High Court, are seeking a declaration that clinically assisted nutrition and hydration constitute life-sustaining treatment.
