Judges will need to evaluate each
judicial case regarding medically assisted suicide in the
absence of legislation regulating the matter, Italy's
Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday.
The court said a judge will need to independently evaluate "on
the basis of the principles already outlined in a sentence
issued in 2019 whether a person can be indicted in relation to
the practice of assisted suicide".
The requirements outlined in the 2019 sentence included the
presence of an irreversible pathology and unbearable physical or
psychological suffering for the patient, among others.
The top court noted that, in the absence of a law in Italy
regulating the matter, the requirements to access assisted
suicide remain those established by sentence n.242 of 2019 and
must be ascertained by the national healthcare service.
The court moreover expressed the "strong hope that the
legislator and the national healthcare service will ensure the
concrete and punctual implementation of the principles set by
its previous sentence, notwithstanding the possibility for the
legislator of dictating a different set of rules, in the respect
of the principles cited today".
The Constitutional Court once again urged to "guarantee to all
patients the effective possibility of accessing appropriate
palliative care to control their suffering".
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