Assisted-suicide drug decided for Marche man

(ANSA) - ROME, FEB 11 - A drug to be used in the assisted suicide of a 44-year-old tetraplegic Marche man has been decided by the eastern Italian region's medical ethics committee, sources said Friday.
    The man, known only by first name Mario, will be able to use a barbiturate drug called Tiopentone to end his life, the panel said.
    Mario is fighting a legal battle with the regional health agency (ASUR) to be able to die in line with a landmark sentence from the Constitutional Court which cleared right-to-die activist Marco Cappato in the 2017 assisted death in a Swiss clinic of 40-year-old blind and tetraplegic Italian ex-DJ Fabiano Antoniani, better known as DJ Fabo.
    The Corriere Adriatico newspaper reported the case, saying it had not been finally resolved yet.
    It said only that a multidisciplinary committee of experts had found Tiopentone to be an appropriate means of ending his life if Mario is allowed to do so.
    Earlier this month an Ancona court found in favour of another man besides Mario, issuing the second ruling in seven months that a tetraplegic patient should be given access to assisted suicide under the landmark Constitutional Court sentence regarding DJ Fabo.
    The man, 'Antonio', has been ordered to receive information on how he can end his life, after last June's similar decision for 'Mario', who has been tetraplegic for 11 years, said the Luca Coscioni right-to-die association.
    Helping someone to end their life is still technically illegal in Italy but the Constitutional Court ruled in 2019 that it is not a crime when someone is in unbearable agony and has made a conscious and aware decision to die.
    Pope Francis earlier this week issued the umpteenth reiteration of the Vatican's stance that ending a life is always against God's will. (ANSA).