After Request for assisted death denied for weeks to a 54-year-old Tuscan womancompletely paralyzed due to progressive multiple sclerosis, theAusl Toscana Nord Ovest has communicated its favorable opinion. The woman meets all 4 requirements set out in sentence 242/2019 (Cappato/Dj Fabo) to legally access medically assisted suicide in Italy. From today, if she confirms her will, she will be able to proceed to put an end to her suffering. The medical commission of the health company is now waiting to know the methods of execution and the doctor chosen by the woman, so as to ensure “respect for the dignity of the person”, the Luca Coscioni Association reports.
The 54-year-old had sent the request to verify her conditions on March 20 and, due to the refusal, had formally warned the health authority, on the following June 29, to review the final report with particular reference to the existence of the requirement for life-sustaining treatment, being totally dependent on the assistance of third parties and having, legitimately and knowingly, refused artificial nutrition.
The recent ruling of the Constitutional Court
There the review of the ASL opinion, initially negative, took place in light of the recent ruling of the Constitutional Court 135 of 2024which extended the interpretation of the concept of “life-sustaining treatment”. In fact, the health authority, until now, did not recognize the presence of this requirement, as it equated the refusal of artificial nutrition (Peg) to the absence of “life-sustaining treatment”. In the new ruling, however, the constitutional judges clarified that “there can be no distinction between the situation of the patient already subjected to life-sustaining treatments, which he can request to be interrupted, and that of the patient who is not yet subjected to them, but now needs such treatments to support his vital functions”.
“This is the first direct application of the Constitutional Court’s ruling number 135, which interprets in a broad and non-discriminatory way the requirement for life-sustaining treatment indicated in ruling 242 on the Cappato-Antoniani case,” says Filomena Gallo, national secretary of the Coscioni Association, defender and coordinator of the 54-year-old’s legal team. “The woman, after months of waiting and suffering, with the risk of dying in an atrocious way from suffocation even just by drinking, will be able to decide with her doctor when to proceed, communicating to the health authority the times and methods of self-administration of the drug in order to receive assistance and what is necessary. The decisions of the Constitutional Court, which have the force of law, fill the void in this matter by dictating the procedures to be followed by those who want to proceed with medically assisted suicide. Parliament will now have to adapt the texts of the bills on which hearings have begun because they are not in conformity with the constitutional judgment in light of the Court’s reasons according to which an organic intervention by the legislator in this matter must respect the principles stated in ruling no. 135 of 2024 and in the previous decisions on the Cappato-Antoniani case (order no. 207 of 2018, sentence no. 242 of 2019)”.
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