The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its verdict on a man’s plea seeking permission to withdraw life-sustaining treatment to his 32-year-old son in a vegetative state since 2013 after falling from a building.Two medical boards constituted by the court have already concluded that Harish Rana–the patient–has no chance for recovery and if the passive euthanasia plea is allowed, this will be the first case of the top court’s directions in the common cause case being judicially applied to end the agony of a man in a vegetative state.A Bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice KV Viswanathan reserved its order after hearing arguments from Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati for the Centre and advocate Rashmi Nandakumar, who represented petitioner Ashok Rana.“It’s a very sad report. We cannot keep this boy in this stage,” the Bench had said on December 18 after perusing a report containing Harish’s medical history filed by a secondary medical board of doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here.Passive euthanasia is the intentional act of letting a patient die by withholding or withdrawing life support or the treatment necessary to keep him alive. The primary medical board, after examining Harish’s condition, had stressed the negligible chance of his recovery.The Bench had on December 11 noted that according to the report of the primary medical board, the man was in a pathetic condition. “He was found to be lying on a bed with a tracheostomy tube for respiration and gastrostomy for feeding. The photographs attached with the letter would indicate that he has suffered huge bed sores. The team of doctors is of the opinion that the chance of his recovery from the present state is negligible. Harish appears to be in this vegetative condition for the past almost 13 years,” it had said.The Supreme Court had in 2018 issued guidelines on passive euthanasia, which was simplified in 2023. According to the 2023 guidelines, a primary and a secondary medical board will have to be formed for an expert opinion on the withdrawal of artificial life support for a patient in a vegetative state.After examining the findings of the primary board, the Bench had referred the case to a secondary board of doctors at AIIMS-New Delhi.On November 26, 2025, the court asked the District Hospital, Noida, to constitute a primary board to examine Harish and submit a report in two weeks, saying his health condition had gone from bad to worse.This is the second time that the petitioners have approached the top court seeking passive euthanasia for their son.Taking note of the Union Health Ministry’s report suggesting that the patient be put in home care with assistance from the Uttar Pradesh Government and regular visits by doctors and a physiotherapist, the court had on November 8 last year said that if home care was not feasible, the patient should be shifted to the District Hospital, Noida, for ensuring the availability of proper medical care.