Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
55-year-old Trieste woman committed assisted suicide by injecting herself with a lethal drug on November 28 becoming the first Italian to kill herself with the direct assistance of the national health service on the basis of a recent ruling by the Constitutional Court, the right-to-die Luca Coscioni Association said Tuesday.
The unnamed woman had been suffering from secondarily progressive multiple sclerosis and wanted to end her suffering.
This was the first Italian woman to die by assisted suicide.
In September 2019 the Italian Constitutional Court opened the door to assisted suicide. 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. The Guardian article 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 remain concerned that assisted suicide essentially applies to people with disabilities.
When studying the assisted suicide debate in Italy, you will notice that the cases have all concerned people with disabilities.
Multiple Sclerosis is a dreadful disease. My brother-in-law lived with MS for more than 60 years. He was given a hesitant diagnosis at first, but he was a real trooper. Yes, he certainly had his ups and downs but he was so much more than the ups and downs. He loved life. He loved music. When friends, neighbors, and family stopped in for a visit, there was surely to be a sing-a-long. He was very talented and taught himself to play several instruments, namely, the accordion, banjo, guitar, and the violin. Then there were tough times for everyone but he never complained. His loving wife, children, extended family, neighbors, friends and companions journeyed with him into his 86 th year. For all peoples living with MS my prayers are with you.
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