The Senate on Thursday gave
final approval to a bill for living wills with 180 votes in
favour, 71 against and six abstentions.
The definitive green light, after a long battle by rights
groups, was met with a big round of applause in the Upper House.
It was hailed by most political parties but criticised by
Italian bishops, while Catholic doctors said there would be
"strong" conscientious objection.
A living will, also called a directive to physicians or
advance directive, is a document that lets people state their
wishes for end-of-life medical care, in case they become unable
to communicate their decisions.
It may include their stating they do not wish to be
artificially fed and hydrated.
Right-to-die activists have hailed the legislation saying it
has "finally" come eight years after the landmark case of Eluana
Englaro, which split the country.
Englaro was an Italian woman who was taken off life support
after a long legal battle after being in a vegetative state for
17 years in 2009.
Englaro's father Beppino said Thursday "there will never
again have to be a tragedy inside a tragedy like Eluana's".
He said "this is an important day for everyone's rights and
freedoms, a watershed for civilisation in our country".
He said "we could not have expected any more than this. It is
a goal that has been achieved also thanks to the battle that all
the team that helped me waged for Eluana".
Premier Paolo Gentiloni tweeted: "Living wills: green light
from the Senate to a civilised choice. A step forward for the
dignity of people".
Speaking in Brussels, the premier added: "Parliament has
taken a decision that allows everyone to take a step forward in
terms of civilisation for the country and dignity for the human
person, and so I'm very satisfied".
Democratic Party deputy leader Maurizio Martina said "it's a
just and historic law".
The widow of right-to-die activist Piergiorgo Welby, Mina,
said "it is just what Piergiorgio had wanted so many years ago,
in 2002.
"Today is a very beautiful day that creates a right to be
treated, to refuse treatment, to choose.
"Of freedom of choice.
"That doesn't mean that if a person wants to come off an
artificial lung machine and feeding, that doesn't mean that
they're refusing life but that they've reached a point of great
suffering that is only going to increase.
"The interruption of these treatments, or not accepting them,
means not having more suffering.
"So it is not euthanasia as I have heard (Catholic critics)
say in the last few days.
"Euthanasia is something else.
"But I'd like there to be a law on that too, some time in the
future".
The right-to-die Coscioni Association said "now it's time to
pass a law on euthanasia too".
There have been a number of high-profile cases of Italians
committing assisted suicide in Switzerland.
Coscioni Association activist Marco Cappato is currently on
trial for helping a blind and tetraplegic ex-DJ, Dj Fabo, kill
himself.
Fabo's parents and even the prosecutor in the case were moved
to tears by a video of Fabo's suffering shown in court
Wednesday.
The Italian Bishops Conference (CEI) slammed the newly
approved law.
CEI Health Office Director Father Massimo Angelelli told ANSA
the law "seems not very effective in safeguarding those who
suffer".
He said "there are many uncertainties in the applicability of
this law".
In Father Angelelli's view, "the judgement is not positive,
we cannot recognise ourselves in this text."
He said the law "safeguards doctors by relieving them of all
responsibility, safeguards public health facilities, tries to
reduce defensive medicine by transferring onto the patient the
burden of responsibility of choices, but it seems not very
effective in safeguarding people who are suffering".
There was, however, very little criticism from Catholic MPs -
despite the fact that the Vatican's teaching on end-of-life
issues, recently reaffirmed by Pope Francis, does not include
hydration and nutrition among the over-zealous or obstinate
practices to be avoided.
Catholic lawmakers did, however, warn that the law should not
lead to the approval of euthanasia.
"This is not euthanasia and the distinctions must be
maintained," said Health Minster Beatrice Lorenzin.
But a Catholic pro-life group, ProVita Onlus, said "at the
March 4 general election we will remember the politicians and
parties that voted for this death-dealing and Nazi law".
The group said that euthanasia "has now been legalised in
Italy".
The deputy head of the Italian Association of Catholic
doctors (AMCI), Giuseppe Battimelli, told ANSA there will be
"strong" conscientious objection by Catholic doctors to the
living-wills law.
"It's clear that we will weigh case by case the will
expressed by the patient but I foresee a strong margin of
recourse to conscientious objection on the part of Catholic
doctors," he said.
Battimelli voiced "dismay and opposition" after the approval
of the law.
Further, he said that "the exclusion of the possibility of
exempting oneself from the application of the law on the part of
accredited private health facilities, which have a different
ethical code, appears unconstitutional".
But the association of Catholic doctors in Milan said they
"greet(ed) with favour the living wills norm approved by
parliament today".
They said "the mediation found at a parliamentary level
responds in many parts to the document promoted by the AMCI
Milan on the issue of advance directives published in 2009, also
on the issue of feeding and hydration".
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