Muscular dystrophy sufferer gets OK for assisted suicide

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 14 - A 49-year-old Italian man who has been in a wheelchair with muscular dystrophy for 34 years on Thursday night got the OK for assisted suicide from his local health agency in Vicenza.
    "Good morning friends near and far, today I'm very happy and it is a great day, the health director of the Aulss 7 Pedemontana was here, to whom I applied for assisted suicide on June 30, and I can inform you that my request has been accepted, and now I'm free to decide when I want to pout an end to my suffering," said the man, Stefano Gheller, on Facebook.
    Gheller, from Cassola near Vicenza, is attached to a respirator 24 hours a day.
    He said he was happy that his right to assisted suicide had been recognised under a recent Constitutional Court ruling, even though there is still not Italian law in place in favour of assisted suicide.
    "I hope it will also help any other people who make the me request." he added.
    Gheller said he could have gone to a euthanasia clinic in Switzerland, where several other Italians have been helped commit assisted suicide by the right-to-die Luca Coscioni Association, but "i preferred to stay in Italy and fight my battle here". (ANSA).