Private hospitals across Maharashtra will now be required to follow a uniform approval process before withdrawing life-sustaining treatment from patients covered under passive euthanasia provisions, following a new directive issued by the state government.
The Public Health Department has made it mandatory for hospitals to constitute two separate medical boards to evaluate every request involving a patient’s advance medical directive, commonly known as a living will. The move is aimed at ensuring greater transparency and strict adherence to the legal framework laid down by the Supreme Court.
The directive has been issued in line with the apex court’s March 2026 judgment in the Harish Rana case, which reaffirmed that no decision to withdraw life support can be implemented without the approval of both a primary and a secondary medical board.
Harish Rana, who had remained in a coma for more than a decade, became the first person in India to receive permission for passive euthanasia after the Supreme Court allowed the withdrawal of artificial life support. Passive euthanasia involves allowing a terminally ill or permanently incapacitated patient to die naturally by discontinuing life-sustaining treatment.
Under the new protocol, the primary medical board will examine the patient’s condition and the validity of the living will before forwarding its recommendation to a secondary medical board for independent review.
For private hospitals located outside Mumbai and Mumbai Suburban, the secondary board will function under the supervision of the district civil surgeon. In Mumbai and Mumbai Suburban, the Medical Superintendent of Sir JJ Hospital will oversee the process.
The secondary board will include the hospital’s medical director as chairperson, the treating physician, two specialists with at least five years of relevant experience, an external specialist nominated by the district civil surgeon, and the district civil surgeon.
The government has also instructed district civil surgeons to prepare district-wise panels of registered medical practitioners who can be nominated as independent experts for these boards. All district authorities have been directed to circulate the revised guidelines to private hospitals and ensure compliance with the new procedure.
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