Many Italians are already
deciding how and when they will die via euthanasia, former
health minister and cancer specialist Umberto Veronesi said
Monday.
They are part of an underground movement in support of
euthanasia, which needs legal support, said Veronesi, co-founder
and scientific director emeritus of the European Institute of
Oncology (IEO).
"The terminally ill who suffer violent pain in the last
days of life are refused when they asks for an injection to die
peacefully," said Veronesi.
"If a doctor helps, he can be charged with murder," added
the former surgeon.
"Yet many (doctors) do help," said Veronesi, adding that
everyone "has the right to self-determination".
Italian judges are not helping to fill the gaps in "poorly
constructed" laws that must be changed, he said.
A former president of Italy's short-lived Nuclear Security
Agency and Democratic Party (PD) Senator, Veronesi has fought
for the decriminalization of soft drugs, for the therapeutic use
of cannabis, and against animal experiments.
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