Milan, July 25 (LaPresse) – “The Constitutional Court has not made a decision regarding physician-assisted euthanasia. In the ruling published today, it declared the constitutional legitimacy question concerning Article 579 of the Penal Code inadmissible due to a lack of reasoning regarding the availability of self-administration devices. Therefore, it chose not to address the merits of the constitutional issue raised in the case of ‘Libera,’ a 55-year-old woman from Tuscany suffering from progressive multiple sclerosis, completely paralyzed and unable to self-administer the lethal drug,” the Coscioni Association said in a statement.
“According to the Constitutional Court, the Florence tribunal should have, before raising the constitutionality question and in addition to involving the local health authority, also consulted central-level specialized bodies such as the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, to verify the availability of devices that ‘Libera’ might be able to activate,” the association explained.
“Libera, assisted by a legal team coordinated by lawyer Filomena Gallo, national secretary of the Luca Coscioni Association, is effectively unable to make choices about her own end of life: she cannot self-administer the lethal drug due to her physical condition, but she also cannot obtain administration by a physician.”
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