New Delhi, March 11 -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed India's first court-approved "passive euthanasia", permitting the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment for Harish Rana, a 32-year-old man who has remained in a permanent vegetative state for over a decade after a severe brain injury in 2013.

The ruling is expected to have a far-reaching impact on Indian patients in prolonged vegetative states and their families, said legal and medical experts, encouraging more families to seek judicial approval for this.

"Passive euthanasia" permits holding back life-saving treatment for individuals who are terminally ill or in a permanent vegetative state, allowing natural death. While passive euthanasia has been legal in India since 2018...