Madras high court orders examination of boy's vegetative state

Chennai: The Madras high court on Monday directed the medical experts nominated by the search committee, to examine as early as possible, the 9-year-old boy, whose father sought permission for his passive euthanasia on the ground that the boy has been in persistent vegetative state (PVS) since birth, and file a report.

A division bench comprising Justices N. Kirubakaran and S. Baskaran gave the directive on a petition from R.Thirumeni, father of the child T. Paavendhan. The bench also directed the Central and the state governments to find out as to whether the government itself or any other non-governmental organisations can maintain the child, since the child is having normal respiration and digestion and the only problem is the forced feeding and it is different from the other patients, whose condition is critical viz., brain death.

The bench said since the child has to be brought to Chennai from Cuddalore, which was the native place of the petitioner, the director, TN Government Multi-Super Specialty Hospital, Omandurar Estate, Chennai, was directed to send an ambulance to transport the child to the hospital, where the child would be treated and appropriate decision would be taken by the experts.

The director, Tamil Nadu Government Multi-Super Specialty Hospital, Omandurar government estate, Chennai, was directed to provide all the facilities for testing the child and also provide other facilities to the experts, so as to enable them to conduct the test and have a meeting in the said hospital, the bench added.

The bench said the experts have to give their report which must contain the aspects relating to the present status of the child, whether the child fulfils criteria for the persistent vegetative state and whether the state of the child was treatable in today’s medical field or there was any scope of treatment to reverse the condition of the child.

If there was any necessity, the examining doctors could ask for video-graphing of the testing, which shall be provided by the state government. The state government was directed to give suitable instructions to all the concerned, to comply with the order passed by this court and to file a report at the earliest, the bench added and posted to October 4, further hearing of the case.

In his petition, Thirumeni, a tailor from Cuddalore district, submitted that his son suffers from epileptic seizures 10 to 20 times a day even with medication, and that the highest number of seizures he has suffered in a day was 150. He has to spend at least Rs 10,000 a month on medication, he added.