IS died by euthanasia Shanti De Corte, 23 years old. She was 17 when she became involved in an ISIS terrorist attack. She was going to Rome on a school trip with 90 other students from the Santa Rita school in Kontich, in the province of Antwerp. Some of her friends died beside her, she was unharmed. Physically unharmed but deeply traumatized. At the age of 23 she died of euthanasia.
Euthanasia in Belgium
Belgian legislation allows you to access euthanasia even in the presence of “constant, unbearable and incurable psychological suffering”. The country is among the most permissive on the issue: in 2003 it legalized euthanasia and in 2016 it extended it to minors, following the example of the Netherlands (in the case of terminally ill children with very serious diseases).
Luxembourg passed the law legalizing euthanasia in 2009. Spain in 2021 (while passive euthanasia and assisted suicide have been decriminalized since 1995). But these countries also establish gods limits to the request, generally identified with the presence of an incurable / irreversible pathology and unbearable physical or psychological suffering. In Switzerland there is no law on euthanasia, but assisted suicide is decriminalized and no precise limits are defined. And indeed there was also the case of an Italian engineer, from Albavilla, who he obtained assisted suicide for “only” depression.
The Shanti De Corte case, who chose euthanasia at the age of 23
Shanti De Corte had been hospitalized several times. As she told herself on social media, she suffered from constant panic attacks and depression: «I wake up and take medicine for breakfast, then up to 11 antidepressants a day. Without it I can’t live, but with all these pills I don’t feel anything anymore, I’m a ghost ». Already in 2020 he had attempted suicide and had repeatedly asked for an end to his life, euthanasia. When she was fine she had tried to tell the press about her he wanted to “Living for others”of wanting to be an example for the other survivors of the attacks to start living again despite the trauma.
“It was a life of laughter and tears, I’m leaving in peace”
But then things fell apart, the medications increased, and Shanti had lost any last glimmer of the will to live. The euthanasia took place on May 7ththanks to’Leif association: next to the girl were her family. Her last message on Facebook: «It was a life of laughter and tears, until the last day. I have loved and have been allowed to know what true love is. I’m leaving in peace. Know that I already miss you ». There have been several controversies in Belgium: a neurologist from the Brugmann university hospital, Paul Deltenre, contested the choice to grant euthanasia. The Antwerp prosecutor’s office opened an investigation but then closed it: the procedure was respected.
Euthanasia and assisted suicide, how it works in Italy
Euthanasia, which involves the intervention of a doctor to administer the lethal drug, is illegal in Italy. Medically assisted suicide (in which the patient self-administers the lethal drug) is possible, however, in certain circumstances. The constitutional sentence no. 242/2019 issued following the Cappato / Dj Fabo case, allows access to assisted suicide only in the presence of four requirements: that the patient who requests it is affected by a pirreversible atologysource intolerable physical or mental sufferingis kept alive by life-sustaining treatments and be it capable of making decisions free and aware.
The Bazoli bill
In the last legislature the Bazoli bill this sentence of the Constitutional Court was similar in many respects to assisted suicide. But many points were open for discussion. “We will have to see if and how they will be recovered”, says Laura Palazzani, professor of philosophy of law at Lumsa: “Certainly in the last formulation the unbearable physical or psychological suffering had to be accompanied by a pathology of the body serious and irreversible, in addition to the much discussed presence of life-sustaining treatments “. That is, assisted ventilation, artificial hydration and nutrition or others forms of technological dependence, which many believe, however, can also be interpreted as non-technological assistance.
As stated by the lawyer Filomena Gallo of the Luca Coscioni Association. «Belgium, like most European legislation on the subject of end of life, does not include this requirement, as discriminatory for all those patients who are not (yet) kept alive by a machine or drug therapy“.
For this reason, last August 1st Marco Cappato accompanied Elena Altamira, a cancer patient in a terminal phase but without life support treatments, to Switzerland, declaring herself for the crime of assisting suicide. “The goal of civil disobedience is precisely to overcome the requirement of life support, which is considered discriminatory and unreasonable»Explains Gallo. But, of course, a terminal illness that does not require life support is not depression.
Euthanasia and depression
“There is strong pressure from libertarian and utilitarian views a legitimize “giving death” even to depressed people», Explains Palazzani, professor of philosophy of law at Lumsa. “But a line of opposition also emerges. That of those who believe that even extreme psychological suffering, without an incurable and irreversible pathology of the body – identified on the medical level, by a special commission – should not be considered a sufficient reason to ask for euthanasia or assisted suicide “. Are the so-called “fatigue of living” or severe depression pathologies of the mind, which can always be treated on a pharmacological and psycho-therapeutic level? Could this be enough reasons to die?
The slippery slope for assisted suicide and euthanasia
“Renouncing to treat and take care of those who are in conditions of psychological suffering means to considerably expand the possibility of requesting to die»Continues Palazzani. “In bioethics we speak of the ‘slippery slope’: we begin to legitimize ‘giving death’ to very specific and delimited cases and then the meshes widen, progressively, to those who do not find the meaning of living ». From the case of DJ Fabo, irreversibly ill in the body, bitch to machines, suffering, lucid, we arrive at assisted suicide for “tiredness of living” by Jean-Luc Godard, 92 years old. Or to that of the botanist David Goodall, an Australian botanist, 104 years old: he had no pathologies, he simply wanted to choose how to die. Specifically, after a fish & chips lunch and listening to Beethoven’s Ode to Joy.
Or, in fact, to euthanasia in Shanti De Corte, physically healthy but terribly depressed. “With the consequence”, says Palazzani, “that doctors and society as a whole renounce to treat and help those who suffer, limiting themselves to registering the request and satisfying it. Care is a right and human solidarity is a moral duty for which we are responsible not only as relatives or friends of those who ask to die because they no longer find meaning in their life, but also as citizens“.
The psychological assessment to request assisted suicide
In Italy, explains Filomena Gallo dell ‘Luca Coscioni association, a patient can send to his / her own ASL the request to access the verification of the conditions as foreseen by the sentence n. 242/2019 of the Constitutional Court. Then the ASL appoints a multidisciplinary technical commission to ascertain the presence of the famous four requirements. Specific interviews with psychologists and psychiatrists have the objective of assessing the capacity of the applicant.
Is a depression “enough”?
“Considering clinical depression as an irreversible or treatable pathology is and must be the subject of accurate medical and scientific evaluations»Continues Gallo. It is therefore essential to enhance the moment of verification of the conditions through specialized technical commissions and as we have foreseen in the regional PDL proposed by the Luca Coscioni Association, through medical commissions also set up on the basis of the specific needs of the applicant ».
“While some foreign countries, such as Belgium in this case, take responsibility for a choice, however difficult and delicate, which allows access to medically assisted death on the basis of precise rules and criteria, Italy turns to the other side, ignoring the requests of many sick people forced to suffer unbearable suffering»Continues the lawyer. “And every year, according to ISTAT data, in Italy, hundreds of terminally ill patients, unable to resort to euthanasia, try to commit suicide their “safe exit” from a situation of atrocious physical and psychological suffering ».
Euthanasia and the sensitivity of Italians
“I cannot judge the case of Shanti De Corte on the merits” says Luca Savarino, professor of bioethics at the University of Eastern Piedmont and author of the book Euthanasia and assisted suicide. “I don’t know how irreversible his illness was and how unbearable his suffering. This was done by a commission in charge, in Belgium, and on the specific case I do not think it is appropriate to add anything else. From a more general point of view, however, it must be said that the issue of euthanasia for people with severe and incurable mental illness remains one of the most controversial issues in the context of reflection on the end of life “.
The fear of being trapped in one’s body
Belgium and the Netherlands certainly have different legislation and sensibilities. “But I believe that even in Italians this sensitivity has increased in recent years. Many people, especially the elderly, are afraid of being trapped, in inhuman conditions, in a body that becomes a prison device ». And this does not question the theme of the sacredness of life. “Indeed, it is precisely the value that is attributed to life that makes its residual quality and the dignity of dying important“.
As mentioned, in Italy the discussion on end-of-life issues does not consider psychological suffering as a sufficient reason for helping to die. At least not today. “The issues on the agenda certainly do not concern the distinction between physical and mental illnesses”, continues Savarino, “even if it is not impossible to hypothesize that sooner or later this topic may become topical also in our country”.
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