• Passive euthanasia is the act of deliberately withdrawing medical treatment for a terminally-ill patient to hasten death
• Passive euthanasia is legal in India under exceptional circumstances
• On March 7, 2011, the Supreme Court (SC) legalised passive euthanasia
• This allowed withdrawal of life support to those in a permanent vegetative state
• The apex court decision came on a case involving Aruna Shanbaug, who had been in a Persistent Vegetative State (PVS) till her death in 2015
• The SC mandated two 'irreversible conditions' to permit Passive Euthanasia in the 2011 law
(i) the patient should be brain-dead
(ii) The patient should be in a Persistent Vegetative State (PVS) for whom the feed can be tapered out and pain-managing palliatives added
• On 25 February, 2014, a three-judge bench termed the judgement in the Aruna Shanbaug case to be 'inconsistent in itself'
• The bench also referred the issue to a five-judge Constitution bench
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