Italy's Constitutional Court Rejects Euthanasia Referendum

Unfortunate;y, this is not unalloyed good news as Mr Schadenberg explains in the article. There is still a long way to go to rid Italy of this evil.

From Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

By Alex Schadenberg

Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

In July 2020, An Italian court acquitted assisted suicide activists Marco Cappato and Mina Welby in the assisted suicide death of Davide Trentini in the April 2017 Dignitas assisted suicide clinic death in Switzerland.

The judgement did not directly challenge the law. The judge decided that they did not break the law because they did not instigate the act. Based on this decision, the Italian law continues to apply to physicians who would instigates the act.

On February 16, Italy's Constitutional Court rejected a referendum on euthanasia. As reported by Euronews:

Italy's Constitutional Court has rejected a petition to hold a referendum on euthanasia and legally-assisted suicide.

The court said a proposed vote on the matter would not sufficiently protect "weak and vulnerable" people and would therefore violate the constitution.

A petition for a referendum on the right to die had collected more than 750,000 signatures last August, well above the threshold required to trigger a vote.

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition is pleased by this decision but we recognize that a previous court decision approved assisted suicide and the Italian government will be debating legalislation to legalize euthanasia.

Euronews reported:

In 2019, the Italian Constitutional Court amended the law on assisted suicide, ruling that euthanasia would be allowed for terminally ill patients suffering from "unbearable" physical or psychological pain and kept alive by machines.

Such patients must, however, be capable of making "free and informed decisions" and have their decision approved by local health authorities and an ethics board approved.

Anyone who does not fall into this category has no legal right to assisted suicide.

Sadly, in November 2021, an ethics committee in the central Italian region of Marche approved the first assisted suicide death, a man with quadriplegia known as Mario. 

EPC is particularly concerned that the Italian assisted suicide court decisions all concern people with disabilities. The 2019 court decision discriminates against people with disabilities who can now be abandoned to death.