Milan, August 5 (LaPresse) – A 44-year-old woman from Campania suffering from ALS, considered an "irreversible pathology," has been denied medically assisted suicide by the local health authority (ASL). The Luca Coscioni Association, to which the woman turned to appeal the urgent refusal before the Naples court, announced this.
The reason for the denial is the absence of three of the four legal requirements needed to access voluntary assisted death in Italy, according to Constitutional Court ruling 242/2019 ‘Cappato-Antoniani’. The only recognized requirement is her irreversible pathology. Missing, according to the health authority, are the will to proceed with voluntary assisted death, dependence on life-support treatment, and the presence of suffering deemed intolerable by the patient.
For these reasons, ‘Coletta’—the name chosen by the woman—has turned to the legal team led by lawyer Filomena Gallo, national secretary of the Luca Coscioni Association, requesting an urgent reassessment of her condition and the transmission of the ethical committee’s opinion. However, the health authority has not acted on these requests.
"As a conscious, lucid, and determined citizen," Coletta declared, "I cannot accept that my will be overridden by assessments that seem to ignore not only my health condition but also my right not to be condemned to suffering that no longer makes sense for me. If I cannot access a legally guaranteed choice in Italy, I am considering the only feasible alternative: going abroad to die with dignity in Switzerland."
This is the third such request in the region after Gianpaolo Galietta, a 47-year-old suffering from spinal muscular atrophy from Montano Antilia, who in March 2021 had requested a condition review but, due to the long wait, chose deep palliative sedation and died two days later.
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