Milan, July 25 (LaPresse) – It is not admissible for third parties to administer the drug that ends the life of a patient who meets all the requirements for medically assisted suicide but is physically unable to self-administer the drug. With ruling no. 132, published today, the Constitutional Court declared inadmissible the questions of constitutional legitimacy regarding Article 579 of the Penal Code raised by the Florence Court, in relation to Articles 2, 3, 13, and 32 of the Constitution.
The case was brought by a woman living in Tuscany, whose local health authority had confirmed she met all the required criteria. However, due to the progression of her illness, she is unable to self-administer the drug and had filed an urgent petition to have her right to self-determination guaranteed.
The State Attorney's Office requested the case be dismissed as inadmissible or unfounded. The Constitutional Court ultimately declared the questions inadmissible, stating that the Florence court “did not provide sufficient or conclusive reasoning” regarding the possibility of obtaining a pharmacological self-administration device operable by a patient who has lost the use of their limbs.
The ruling specifies that if such a device could be “obtained within a timeframe reasonably related to the patient’s suffering,” then the patient “would have the right to use it.”
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