Anna, suffering from multiple sclerosis since 2010, can access voluntary assisted death after eleven months of waiting. She is the first citizen of Friuli Venezia Giulia, the fifth person in Italy. This was communicated by the Coscioni Association which made known the decision in this regard taken by the Ethics Committee. The woman had started the process about a year ago.
The Association “believes that the protection of Anna’s health and vulnerable condition must be considered fully satisfied where the drug is provided and the assistance of healthcare personnel is guaranteed”. Anna, through Coscioni, said: “Happy to be free to choose and decide.”
The opinion of the Ethics Committee to allow Anna (not her real name), 55 years old, from Trieste suffering from secondary progressive multiple sclerosis, was the last stage, at the end of a long legal battle, to access assisted suicide. Previously, the multidisciplinary medical commission appointed by the Giuliano Isontina University Health Authority (Asugi), having examined the patient’s conditions at the request of the Court of Trieste, had confirmed that all the requirements for making use of “the aid of voluntary assisted death” existed.
The Coscioni Association specified in a note that the Ethics Committee on Anna’s case, having taken note of the technical considerations formulated by the multidisciplinary medical commission and the identified methods of execution in relation to the choice of the drug, the dosage and the methods of administration, has considered that “the methodological path adopted was conducted in compliance with the protection of the rights, dignity and values of the person and that Mrs. Anna’s vulnerable condition was widely supported by the competent technical bodies”.
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