Terminal patient commits assisted suicide in Veneto

(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 24 - A 78-year-old woman with terminal cancer has committed assisted suicide in Italy, the Luca Coscioni Association said on Monday.
    "Gloria" (not her real name) died at her home in the northern Veneto region on Sunday.
    She was the second person in Italy to have chosen to put an end to her suffering through assisted suicide on the basis of the Constitutional Court's 2019 'Cappato ruling', named after right-to-die campaigner Marco Cappato, making assisted suicide permissible in certain circumstances.
    She was also the first person to have had the medication and equipment needed to carry out her wishes delivered directly by the local health authority.
    The practice became possible after Veneto's regional health authority and ethics committee in June approved her request for assisted suicide under the terms of the 2019 ruling.
    Previously, three other Italian regions, Marche, Umbria and Friuli Venezia Giulia, turned down similar requests by terminally ill patients wishing to end their lives.
    "At this moment our thoughts go to 'Gloria's family, to her husband, who was close to her until the last moment," said Filomena Gallo and Marco Cappato respectively Secretary and Treasurer of the Luca Coscioni Association.
    "Although 'Gloria' had to wait a few months, she chose to proceed in Italy in order to have her beloved family by her side and feel free in her own country," they added.
    "She was spared an end that she did not want, thanks to the rules established by the Constitutional Court and thanks to the fairness and humanity of the Veneto health system and the regional institutions headed by Luca Zaia," they added.
    The Veneto ruling was the second in the region around Venice and the fourth in Italy.
    Photo: Marco Cappato. (ANSA).