Maharashtra govt orders medical panels in pvt hospitals for passive euthanisia cases

Mumbai, Jul 17 (PTI) The Maharashtra government on Friday issued a directive laying down the framework to set up primary and secondary medical boards in private hospitals to deal with cases of passive euthanasia and "living wills". The government resolution (GR) by the state public health department follows the Supreme Court’s March 11, 2026 judgment in the Harish Rana case, which reiterated that decisions on withdrawing life-sustaining treatment in accordance with a patient's advance directive or "living will" must be examined and approved by designated medical boards. Rana, who had been in a coma since 2013, became the first person in India to be allowed passive euthanasia. The apex court allowed the withdrawal of his artificial nutrition, hydration and life support, and he died at AIIMS-Delhi. Rana, who was a BTech student at the Panjab University, fell from a fourth-floor balcony in 2013 and suffered severe head injuries that left him in a vegetative state for 13 years. Passive euthanasia is the intentional act of letting a patient die by withholding or withdrawing life support or treatment necessary for maintaining life. The GR stated that the Supreme Court, while referring to its Common Cause judgment, had made it mandatory that whenever treatment is proposed to be withdrawn in accordance with a patient's living will, approval of both a primary and a secondary medical board is necessary. The state had already constituted such boards in government hospitals through a government resolution issued on November 29, 2024, and has now extended the mechanism to private hospitals, it said. According to the order, the primary medical board in a private hospital will be constituted by the hospital's medical director, chief executive officer or medical superintendent, and comprise the hospital administrator as chairperson, the treating medical expert, a critical care specialist, and a senior physician or surgeon. The secondary medical board will be constituted under the district civil surgeon for hospitals outside Mumbai and the Mumbai Suburban districts. In Mumbai and Mumbai Suburban, the medical superintendent of the state-run JJ Hospital will be part of the process. The board will include the hospital's medical director as chairperson, the treating doctor, two subject experts with more than five years of experience, an empanelled external specialist nominated by the district civil surgeon, and the district civil surgeon. The government has also directed district civil surgeons to prepare panels of registered medical practitioners from their respective districts for nomination as external experts on the secondary medical boards. It has further instructed district authorities to bring the government resolution to the notice of all private hospitals in their jurisdictions. PTI ND ARU