Disabled man is the first Italian to die by assisted suicide.

Alex Schadenberg

Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Italian assisted suicide campaigners

On June 16, the first Italian assisted suicide death took place. Federico Carboni, originally known as "Mario," died by assisted suicide. All of the precedent-setting assisted suicide cases in Italy have concerned people with disabilities.

As reported by Mercopress.com:

Carboni, 44, worked as a truck driver until 2010 when he had an accident that left him quadriplegic, after which he sought to be allowed to die. As per current Italian law, aiding suicide carries a penalty of between 5 to 12 years in prison.

In September 2019 the Italian Constitutional Court opened the door to assisted suicide. At the time, I was concerned with the language of the decision. An article in the Guardian reported that the court appeared to limit the extent of the decision to people being kept alive on life-support, but the language of the decision was much wider. An article in the Guardian stated:

The court said that a patient’s condition must be “causing physical and psychological suffering that he or she considers intolerable”.

Since the decision used the phrase “causing physical and psychological suffering that he or she considers intolerable,” and since the court did not define the parameters of the statement, I was concerned that assisted suicide would primarily apply to people with disabilities.

When studying the assisted suicide debate in Italy, you will notice that the cases have all concerned people with disabilities.

An Italian court acquitted assisted suicide activists Marco Cappato and Mina Welby in the assisted suicide death of Davide Trentini, who died in the April 2017 at the Dignitas assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland. Trentini was living with multiple sclerosis.

In December 2020, a Milan court acquitted Italian assisted suicide activist, Marco Cappato in the assisted suicide death of Fabiano Antoniani (known as DJ Fabo), who died in February 2017 at the Dignitas assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland. Antoniani was living with a Spinal Cord injury.

Now that Carboni, known as Mario, has died by assisted suicide, the pressure to legalize assisted suicide will intensify in Italy.

Clearly, the assisted suicide lobby in Italy is promoting assisted suicide as a response to living with a disability.