Indian man in 13-year vegetative state allowed to die by Supreme Court
Harish Rana was comatose and bedridden for over a decade. Now, the Supreme Court has ruled that his ‘endless misery’ can finally end
The decision in the case of Harish Rana is widely seen as one of the clearest real-world applications of the principle that patients have a right to die with dignity under India’s constitution.
Rana, an engineering student, had been in a vegetative state for the last 13 years after falling from the fourth floor of his hostel in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh.
After emergency treatment, doctors declared him a quadriplegic.
Bedridden and dependent on feeding tubes for survival, his mother Nirmala and father Ashok became his primary carers.
A high court in New Delhi denied the couple permission to withdraw life support in 2024, prompting them to seek legal recourse from the Supreme Court.