Tuscany has adopted its own end-of-life law
Rights — di Simone Santi
Tuscany has adopted its own end-of-life law, with guaranteed timeframes for the right to assisted suicide support.
Tuscany has adopted its own end-of-life law
Tuscany has adopted its own end-of-life law, with guaranteed timeframes for the right to assisted suicide support.
- Tuscany is the first region to equip itself with a law on medically assisted suicide.
- Those who meet the conditions to request access to support must receive a response within 20 days.
- Since 2019, the Constitutional Court has been calling on the national Parliament to pass an end-of-life law.
Italy has yet to act, but Tuscany now has its own regional end-of-life law. The Tuscany Regional Council approved the text on procedures and timeframes for regional healthcare assistance in medically assisted suicide yesterday, 11 February, with 27 votes in favour from the centre-left majority and 13 votes against.
Liberi Subito, the origins of the end-of-life bill
The end-of-life bill, named Liberi Subito and born from a popular initiative launched by the Associazione Luca Coscioni — which has long campaigned for the right to medically assisted suicide and euthanasia (one need only recall the civil and legal disobedience battles of former secretary Marco Cappato, beginning with the case of Dj Fabo) — sets out the procedures and timeframes within which the regional health service must verify the conditions for accessing this practice, in accordance with Constitutional Court ruling no. 242/19, which at the time called on the national Parliament — still without success — to draft an end-of-life law.
Under the law, medically assisted suicide may be requested by people suffering from irreversible conditions, with physical or psychological suffering deemed intolerable, kept alive by life-sustaining treatments and capable of making informed decisions. The law provides for the establishment of a multidisciplinary medical commission that verifies the requirements within twenty days, guaranteeing free assistance and certified timeframes for access to treatment.
Filomena Gallo, current secretary of the Associazione Coscioni, describes it as "a law of civilisation, because it prevents the recurrence of cases — most recently that of Gloria, right here in Tuscany — of people who had to wait months, or even years, for a response, while enduring unbearable and irreversible suffering".
The role of the Constitutional Court and the absence of Parliament
The rules approved in Tuscany allow for the full implementation of the Constitutional Court's 2019 "Cappato – Antoniani" ruling (Antoniani being Dj Fabo's official surname — he was left tetraplegic following an accident and was accompanied by Cappato to Switzerland to pursue euthanasia, in accordance with the patient's wishes) which legalised so-called "assisted suicide" in Italy under certain conditions. The regional council's vote was therefore made possible thanks to Marco Cappato's act of civil disobedience, as well as the signatures of nearly 10,000 citizens of Tuscany who activated the popular legislative initiative.
Historic victory: Tuscany is the first region in Italy to pass a law guaranteeing certain timeframes and procedures on "assisted suicide". Now it's up to the other regions! associazionelucacoscioni.it/notizie/comuni…
The association's goal is now to see the Liberi Subito end-of-life law approved in all Italian regions. "Assisted suicide" is already de facto legal everywhere, precisely by virtue of the Constitutional Court's ruling of 2019, which established that "it is not punishable, at least not under certain conditions, for someone to facilitate the execution of the suicide intention — autonomously and freely formed — of a patient kept alive by life-sustaining treatments and suffering from an irreversible condition, a source of physical and psychological suffering that the patient deems intolerable, but who is fully capable of making free and informed decisions". What was lacking, and what is still lacking at the national level, however, is not only a proper law, but also guarantees on timeframes and procedures for sick patients and doctors.