NEW DELHI: Noting that the court cannot allow a 31-year-old man with 100 per cent disability, quadriplegia, and in a vegetative state for 13 years to continue suffering, the SC on Thursday directed AIIMS to constitute a secondary medical board to examine his condition and submit a report on whether life-sustaining treatment can be withdrawn under passive euthanasia.
Passive euthanasia refers to the intentional act of allowing a patient to die by withholding or withdrawing life support or treatment essential for sustaining life. A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and KV Viswanathan, which reviewed the report submitted by a primary board of a Noida hospital, observed, “This is very, very unfortunate. The boy seems to be in a pathetic condition.
“Bedsores are the end of everything. Now, we have waterbeds etc. to prevent formation of bedsores. They are extremely painful. Doctors have said in so many words that there is no question of recovery…,” Justice Pardiwala noted.
Advocate Rashmi Nandakumar, representing the patient’s father, submitted that under the Supreme Court’s 2018 judgment, the next procedural step is referral to a secondary medical board constituted by the CMO.