Supreme Court seeks expert report from AIIMS on Apnea Test

The Supreme Court of India has expressed a prima facie finding of a “ring of truth” in a petition challenging the reliability of the apnea test, a widely used clinical procedure to declare brain death. The intervention follows a plea by Dr. Sadanandan Ganapathy, which argues that the current protocol is not a conclusive assessment of death. 

Key Court Directives

In response to the petition, the Supreme Court has issued the following directions:

• AIIMS Expert Panel: The Court has directed the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to constitute a specialized panel comprising three experts in neurology or neurosurgery.
• Feasibility Study: The panel is tasked with examining whether more advanced methods—specifically Cerebral Angiograms and Electroencephalograms (EEG)—offer a more reliable and definitive determination of brain death than the current standard.

The Apnea Test: Current Status vs. Controversy

Under existing medical protocols, the apnea test is a mandatory examination for determining Brain Death (BD).

• The Logic: It is designed to provide essential clinical evidence of the definitive loss of brainstem function by testing the body’s involuntary respiratory response.

The Challenge: The petitioner alleges that the test, particularly as applied in states like Kerala, lacks the conclusiveness required for such a critical medical determination, potentially leading to inaccurate declarations of death.

Source: IE