New Delhi: Harish Rana, having been in coma for 13 years, breathed his last at AIIMS Delhi on Tuesday.
Just 13 days ago, the Supreme Court had given permission for euthanasia, the first such relief granted in the country.
Rana, who suffered severe head injuries after he fell from a fourth-floor balcony while he was a BTech student at Panjab University, was in a vegetative state since 2013.
The 31-year-old Rana He was shifted from his Ghaziabad home to the palliative care unit at AIIMS Delhi’s Dr BR Ambedkar Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital on March 14.
Rana was given passive euthanasia. In other words, external life support or treatment being given to keep a seriously ill patient alive is stopped or removed, so that the patient can die naturally.
A team of doctors led by Dr Seema Mishra, head of anaesthesia and palliative medicine, was formed to implement passive euthanasia — the first of its kind in India. As per the Supreme Court’s March 11 directive, doctors had to withdraw life support through a carefully planned process that ensured dignity.
Rana’s artificial nutritional support was gradually withdrawn, and his feeding tube was removed on March 16.
