Tuscany is the first Italian region of medical assistance with a voluntary death (euthanasia). Regional law was adopted by a majority of 27 votes in favor and 13 votes against. The decision came to criticize the Centrumlinkse Board of Tuscany of the conservative Catholic charity organization Pro Vita Famiglia.
From now on a Tuscan medical committee must consider a euthanasia application within thirty days. If the criteria of regional law are met, the local health service must make the necessary medication and healthcare staff available within ten days, unless a sick person wants to be helped by his own doctor. Incidentally, doctors may also refuse to participate in the euthanasia rings of a sick person on moral or ethical grounds.
Meloni
For the time being, an all-embracing law in the Roman Catholic country, which is ruled by a right-wing government. The radical-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is a pronounced opponent of euthanasia. The civil rights organization Luca Coscioni hopes that other regions will follow the example of Tuscany.
In Italian regions other than Tuscany, people who help a sick person with euthanasia are currently up to twelve years in prison. Doctors who administer patients a deadly drug can be sentenced to 15 years in prison. A sick person may refuse a treatment or have it interrupt to die.
To bypass prison sentences, some wealthy patients go to neighboring Switzerland, where euthanasia help is a common but expensive practice. The costs can amount to 12,000 euros.
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Vatican
In 2019, the Italian Constitutional Court decided that a patient in Italy, who is fully competent, suffers unbearably, is irreversibly declining and depends on care to survive, be provided with a suicide.
At the time, the Court of Appeal encouraged the Italian parliament to adopt a law that provides clarity about euthanasia, but many politicians do not want to burn themselves on the politically sensitive issue. Although polls show that a vast majority of Italians are before the legalization of euthanasia, the Vatican conducts a successful lobby.