Italy’s Approval of its First-Ever Assisted Suicide Opens the Door For Controversy in Europe
Italy has formally approved the first-ever assisted suicide after a 2-year legal fight allowing a quadriplegic man to end his life.
Federico Carboni aged 44, was a truck driver publicly known by Mario; he was paralyzed in an accident on the road in 2010.
He died Thursday by lethal injection in his home, in the eastern Marche region of the southern European country.
Carboni previously described his life as “torture,” as he was "both mentally and physically exhausted,” despite trying to live as better as he could, according to The Telegraph.
The First-Ever Assisted Suicide
Paralyzed in a car accident 12 years ago, a 44-year-old Italian man decided to end his life on Thursday, June 16, 2022, and became the first Italian man who died through medically assisted suicide.
According to the Luca Coscioni Association, which calls for the legalization of euthanasia, the man died after taking a lethal drug.
The legality of assisted suicide is still a controversial issue in Italy, as it is still opposed by the powerful Roman Catholic Church and many politicians.
A 2019 decision by the country's Constitutional Court found that assisted suicide was permissible when patients are in overwhelming pain and are conscious enough to take decisions.
After his death, the Luca Coscioni Association revealed the name of the man—Federico Carboni—according to his request.
Carboni fought a lengthy legal battle to legally enjoy euthanasia; after two years, he was finally given the green light by regional health authorities in November 2021.
“I did everything I could to be able to live as best as I could and try to recover as much as I could from my disability, but I am now at the end of my rope both mentally and physically," these were some of Carboni's last words, according to the Luca Coscioni Association.
He said: "I am aware of my physical condition and future prospects so I am totally serene and calm about what I will do. Now I am finally free to fly wherever I want."
Leader of the Luca Coscioni association, Marco Cappato | Ettore Ferrari/EPA-EFE
Fully Legal
European countries have different euthanasia laws; the British House of Lords select committee on medical ethics for example defines euthanasia as “a deliberate intervention undertaken with the express intention of ending a life, to relieve intractable suffering.”
In the Netherlands and Belgium, euthanasia is seen as the “termination of life by a doctor at the request of a patient.”
The Dutch law, on the other hand, does not use the term “euthanasia” it rather uses “assisted suicide and termination of life on request.”
Only 3 European countries are formally authorizing Euthanasia or assisted suicide while others allow terminally ill people to reject life-maintaining treatment or to have assistance to die.
Lawmakers in Portugal have recently begun discussing draft laws decriminalizing the practice.
A few countries have already allowed assisted suicide like the Netherlands which legalized euthanasia in April 2002.
A drug in lethal doses is authorized if the patient makes the request while being fully conscious; they must experience unbearable suffering diagnosed as incurable by at least two doctors.
The Netherlands has also authorized euthanasia for children aged 12 or over but under strict conditions.
Belgium legalized euthanasia in September 2002 for patients facing durable, unbearable, and untreatable physical suffering.
They must be aged 18 or over and demand to end their life in a voluntary and deliberate manner free from coercion.
In Luxembourg, legalizing euthanasia was approved in March 2009 but excluded minors.
Spain does not legalize euthanasia, but it allows a gravely sick person to refuse treatment.
Other Ways of Euthanasia
Several countries do not legalize euthanasia but indirectly help patients end their life.
Italy's Constitutional Court ruled in September 2019 said it was not always a crime to help someone in "intolerable suffering" commit suicide and Parliament is on the way to changing the law banning the practice.
Switzerland for example does not allow “direct euthanasia by a third party but tolerates the provision of substances to relieve suffering, even if death is a possible side-effect,” according to Medical Press.
The country accepts passive euthanasia by stopping medical procedures that maintain life.
France also legalizes passive euthanasia as a "right to die.”
“A 2016 law allows doctors to couple this with deep and continuous sedation for terminally ill patients, while keeping euthanasia and assisted suicide illegal,” according to the same source. In 2010, Sweden legitimatized passive euthanasia.
Since 2002, Britain has allowed medical personnel to stop life-preserving treatment but not in all cases. In Austria, Germany, Norway, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, passive euthanasia is permitted if requested by the patient or by a relative, in case the patient is unconscious.
