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.
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