The Council of State, Italy's top
administrative court, ruled on Wednesday that the Region of
Lombardy must pay 133,000 euros in damages to Beppino Englaro,
the father of Eluana Englaro, who was in a vegetative state for
17 years and died after her artificial nutrition was suspended.
The region had refused to pay for Eluana's care in a
structure that would suspend her nutrition and hydration at her
father's request.
She was thus transferred from a structure in Lecco, in the
Lombardy region, to one in Udine, in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia
region, where she died on February 9, 2009.
The Council of State ruled that Lombardy should have allowed
Englaro to pull the plug on Eluana, as Friuli later did.
Eluana's case spurred a right-to-die debate that gripped
Italy, pitting conservative politicians including then premier
Silvio Berlusconi and the Catholic Church against liberals and
right-to-die activists.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
