Martina Oppelli, a 50-year-old
multiple sclerosis sufferer from Trieste who was denied
permission to commit assisted suicide in Italy three times, was
assisted in taking her own life at a clinic in Switzerland on
Thursday, the Luca Coscioni right-to-death association said.
Oppelli had been denied access to the procedure in Italy as the
health authorities said her case did not feature ‘reliance on
treatments of vital support’ – one of the conditions laid down
by the Constitutional Court in a 2019 ruling that stated
assisted suicide is legal in some cases.
Before her death, Oppelli appealed to Italian lawmakers to pass
legislation to enable people in her sort of situation to end
their lives in a video message.
“Dear parliamentarians and fellow citizens… More than a year
ago I made an appeal to all of you that a law be enacted and
passed, a sensible law that regulates end of life, that brings
the life of all people, the sick and elderly, to a dignified
end,” she said.
“Every pain is absolute and must be respected – pass a sensible
law”.
In the 2019 ruling the Constitutional Court called on parliament
to end Italy’s legislative vacuum on end-of-life issues.
The parties supporting Premier Giorgia Meloni’s government
presented a bill at the start of this month which would pass
into law the markers laid down by the Constitutional Court.
These included the presence of an irreversible pathology,
unbearable physical or psychological suffering, the patient’s
reliance on treatments of vital support and the ability to
understand the decision they are making.
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