Bioethics panel gives assisted-suicide 'opinion'

(ANSA) - Rome, July 30 - Italy's national bioethics committee on Tuesday published its first opinion on medically assisted suicide. Last year Italy's Constitutional Court put off making a decision on case of right-to-die activist Marco Cappato, saying current norms were insufficient and parliament should intervene.
    Cappato is accused of assisting suicide for helping 40-year-old blind and tetraplegic Italian ex-DJ Fabiano Antoniani, better known as DJ Fabo, take his own life at a Swiss clinic in 2017.
    The opinion published Tuesday features the differing views of the members of the panel, plus six common recommendations. "The aim was to give clarity," Lorenzo d'Avack, the president of the committee, told ANSA.
    "Those who voted in favour, like me, gave the reasons why it (medically assisted suicide) would be opportune.
    "It is not an opening of the door to assisted suicide.
    "I'd like it to be a useful, well-documented instrument that can help legislators make decisions.
    "We wanted to give clarity and present all the arguments, for and against".