A 44-year-old Marche man who had been
tetraplegic since a car crash 12 years ago has become the first
person to legally commit assisted suicide in Italy, the Luca
Coscioni right-to-die association said Thursday.
The association said Federico Carboni died at 11:05 on Thursday,
revealing his real name for the first time.
The association had given Carboni the fake name of Mario during
the long legal battle for him to be allowed to commit assisted
suicide.
It had to launch a fund-raising campaign for the 5,000 euros
needed for the drugs that ended Carboni's life after the green
light was given on February 9.
Authorization was given on the basis of the precedent
established by the case of DJ Fabo, a tetraplegic disk jockey
who was helped to commit suicide in a Swiss clinic by
right-to-die activist Marco Cappato, a leading member of the
Coscioni association, in 2017.
In a landmark sentence, the Constitutional Court cleared
Cappato, saying assisted suicide could be legitimate in some
cases if the person wanting to die was in intolerable suffering.
The court also called on parliament to pass legislation dealing
with end-of-life issues, something that it has failed to do so
far.
In February the same court rejected a petition to stage a
referendum on legalising euthanasia.
In a similar case, another Marche man, who had been paralysed
from the head down for 18 years, died Monday night after opting
to end his life with deep sedation.
Fabio Ridolfi, 46, had been refused access to assisted suicide
despite the Constitutional Court ruling.
But the Marche regional ethics panel gave him the green light to
end his life by deep sedation.
Photo: pro- euthanasia campaigners.
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