The 44-year-old man requested euthanasia after spending 12 years paralyzed by a car accident
Italy has practiced this Thursday its first assisted suicide on a 44-year-old man who had been paralyzed for 12 years after suffering a car accident, after obtaining authorization from the Italian Constitutional Court last November.
‘Mario’, the pseudonym of the quadriplegic that the Italian media use to refer to the case, has died this Thursday morning at his home after administering a lethal injection, thus becoming the first Italian to have access to assisted suicide in the country, as reported by the Luca Coscioni Association, an organization that defends the legalization of euthanasia.
The medically assisted suicide procedure was carried out under the medical supervision of Dr. Mario Riccio, although it was ‘Mario’ himself who pressed the only finger that could move an infusion pump, injecting the deadly drug into his arteries. .
«I do not deny that I regret saying goodbye to life, it would be false and a liar if I said otherwise because life is fantastic and we only have one. But unfortunately it was. I have done everything possible to be able to live as well as possible and try to recover as much as possible from my disability, but now I am mentally and physically exhausted”, ‘Mario’ himself has detailed in a letter that he shared before his death and that he has given to know the Luca Coscioni Association.
«I do not have a minimum of autonomy in daily life, I am at the mercy of events, I depend on others for everything, I am like a ship adrift in the ocean. (…) With the Luca Coscioni Association we defended ourselves by attacking and we attack by defending ourselves, we have made jurisprudence and a piece of history in our country and I feel proud and honored to have been by your side. Now I am finally free to fly wherever I want », he added.
Until now in Italy, people who wanted to die with assisted suicide had to go to Switzerland, where it is allowed. In addition, the Vatican and right-wing parties have been staunchly opposed to any kind of euthanasia legislation in recent decades.
Despite this type of pressure, in 2021, 1.2 million Italians signed a petition to force a referendum in favor of euthanasia, although it was not carried out in the end because the Italian Constitutional Court declared that it was the Lower House that I should present a law of this type.
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