The Supreme Court concluded hearings on safeguards governing brain-death certification. The verdict could shape a stronger regime amid malpractice and organ-harvesting concerns.Newdelhi,Nov 3, 2026 19:38 ISTThe Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its verdict on a petition concerning the procedure for declaring a patient brain dead, news agency Press Trust of India reported.A bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and Aparesh Kumar Singh was hearing a challenge to a June 2017 Kerala High Court order. “Arguments concluded.
Judgment/order reserved,” the bench said.The petition was filed by Dr S Ganapathy, who had alleged malpractice in declaring a patient brain dead. The Kerala High Court had declined to proceed further with the matter after considering affidavits filed by the Centre and the Kerala government.“We hope and trust that the central government and the state government would realise their responsibility in the matter and act accordingly,” the high court had said.
Ganapathy subsequently challenged the order in the Supreme Court. Ganapathy, who appeared in person during Tuesday's hearing, explained the process of certifying a patient as brain dead.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre, referred to the National Guidelines on Brain Stem Death Certification, 2026, according to PTI.Bhati also cited a report submitted in the matter by an expert committee of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. On April 28, the Supreme Court had directed AIIMS to set up an expert committee to examine the matter and recommend suitable procedures in view of advances in medical science.“Such an exercise would enable the formulation of a robust and reliable regime, thereby dispelling and allaying the concerns expressed by the petitioner, which, at least prima facie, do carry a ring of truth,” the court had said in its April 28 order.The Supreme Court had noted the petitioner's claim that critically ill patients admitted to hospitals were being declared brain dead even when the clinical requirements prescribed under the law did not support such a finding.“As per the petitioner, such declarations are, at times, made with the underlying intention of facilitating the harvesting of organs for transplantation,” the court had noted.Ganapathy had earlier argued that brain death occurs when there is no blood supply to the brain.
He suggested that angiography, which examines blood vessels, and an electroencephalogram, or EEG, should be conducted. An EEG measures electrical activity in the brain.The Supreme Court has now reserved its decision after hearing arguments on the brain-death certification process and considering the guidelines and the AIIMS expert committee's report.- Ends