New Delhi, March 11 Harish Rana, 32, was an avid gym-goer and football player, and was pursuing a B.Tech degree at Panjab University in 2013 when he fell from the fourth floor of his rented accommodation and sustained a brain injury, leading to a coma.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday permitted the withdrawal of life support for Rana, who has been in a coma for over 13 years, noting that the chances of his recovery are negligible.
Rana's brother, Ashish, recalled that they used to play football and video games together.
His relatives and friends shared that he was extremely energetic, physically active, and deeply interested in games prior to his accident.
Passive euthanasia is the intentional act of allowing a patient to die by withholding or withdrawing life support or treatment necessary to keep him alive.
Rana, from Ghaziabad, was involved in a tragic accident on August 20, 2013, resulting in diffuse axonal injury. The eldest of the three siblings, he was initially rushed to a local hospital, but within a few hours, he had to be transferred to the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh, due to the severity of his condition.
From August 21, 2013 to August 27, 2013, Rana was admitted to PGI Chandigarh, where he received treatment, including conservative management, AED, analgesics, ventilating support, antibiotics, tracheostomy, and feeding through a Ryle's tube (nasogastric tube).
Although he was discharged from PGI Chandigarh on August 27, 2013, his condition remained far from recovery.
Following his discharge, his fragile health condition necessitated frequent hospital admissions and regular medical treatments for his head injury, seizures, pneumonia, and bedsores at the Jai Prakash Narayan Trauma Centre, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.
Rana's medical records show that he had a history of seizures in 2014, for which he was put on medication.
His medical reports indicate that he exhibits no evidence of awareness of his environment and is incapable of interacting with others.
"He has sleep-wake cycles and sleeps through the night. His eyes open with normal blinks, but without purposeful movement or as a response to auditory, verbal, tactile, or painful stimuli.
"The applicant has remained bedridden ever since the incident, which has caused him to suffer terribly from painful bedsores, despite receiving attentive nursing care from his mother. Although the applicant has largely been cared for at home, his susceptible condition has repeatedly necessitated hospitalisation for infections," the top court noted.
A bench of justices J B Pardiwala and K V Viswanathan allowed the plea filed by Rana through his father Ashok Rana and directed AIIMS-Delhi to grant him admission in palliative care so that medical treatment can be withdrawn in a "humane manner".
The top court noted that Rana survived only through clinically administered nutrition via 'percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy' tubes, and medical boards had unanimously concluded that continuation of treatment merely prolonged biological existence without any possibility of recovery.
When primary and secondary boards have certified withdrawal of life support, there is no need for judicial intervention, the apex court said.