Assisted Suicide in Italy: Constitutional right or wishful Thinking?| Biomed Grid

Italy could soon join the group of states that, under certain conditions, allow assisted suicide. The Constitutional Court, in fact, has set for next September 24th the hearing for officially dealing with the constitutional legitimacy of the article of the criminal code that prohibits, in absolute terms, any activity of abetting suicide. However, already in a previous hearing, the Court anticipated that this prohibition is unconstitutional (order no. 207, October 24th, 2018). The case came before the Constitutional Court following the indictment of Mr Marco Cappato for having helped Mr Fabiano Antoniani (known as DJ Fabo) commit suicide. DJ Fabo was rendered blind and quadriplegic by a car accident in 2014. He could breathe autonomously only for short periods and was therefore mechanically ventilated. He was fed artificially and, quoting the Court itself, he “suffered particularly intense physical pain caused by daily muscle spasm and cramps.” DJ Fabo could have asked for the withdrawal of mechanical ventilation or artificial hydration and nutrition (in Italy, the right to refuse medical treatment is formally recognized by law n. 219/2017). Due to his particular condition, however, DJ Fabo would have spent a few days or even weeks before dying of suffocation or dehydration. Faced with this prospect, which DJ Fabo considered contrary to his dignity and a cause of suffering for himself and his loved ones, he decided to commit suicide. Because of his paralysis, he asked Mr Cappato (the leader of an association campaigning for legal euthanasia) to take him to the Swiss clinic Dignitas, in order to be assisted in suicide (a practice permitted there).