ANDterminal cancer patient and general councilor of the Luca Coscioni Association, Sibilla Barbieri. She would have liked to fall asleep in bed in her Roman home, surrounded by her loved ones. In order to be able to use the assisted suicide she was forced to go abroad.
Sibilla Barbieri, a cancer patient, died in Switzerland in an assisted suicide
Sibilla Barbieri, a Roman director, had made a request to her local health authority in August to be able to access assisted suicide. Access denied: for the healthcare company he did not possess all 4 requirements established by the CappatoAntoniani ruling of the Constitutional Court indispensable for a voluntary assisted death. «The managers of the health company have prepared the checks and sent a denial of access to aid in voluntary death because, according to an ad hoc Company Commission, the sick person he was not dependent on life-sustaining treatments». This is explained by Filomena Gallo, defense lawyer and National Secretary of the Luca Coscioni Association, who followed the whole affair.
Sibilla Barbieri instead he was dependent on oxygen therapy and pain medications which, if interrupted, would quickly lead to a painful death.
The last message before the assisted suicide
In the last video message before the trip to Switzerland, the director explained her choice. «I freely decided to get help by going to Switzerland because I have the necessary 10 thousand euros and I can still physically go there». But how many “don’t have the means, are alone or don’t have the information, how do they do it? This is serious discrimination that the State must remedy.”
The self-declaration of Sibilla Barbieri’s son
Sibilla Barbieri was therefore accompanied to Switzerland by her son Vittorio Parpaglioni. With them, Marco Perducaformer radical senator, of the Luca Coscioni Association and member ofCivil Rescue Associationwhich currently has over 50 people ready to take the risk of criminal consequences to help sick people put an end to their suffering.
The son and Perduca face up to 12 years in prison. On Tuesday 7 November they will self-report to the Carabinieri in Via Barberini. With them also Marco Cappato as legal representative of theCivil Relief Association who organized and supported Sibilla Barbieri’s trip. Filomena Gallo accompanied them.
Voluntary death (or assisted suicide) in Italy
We remind you that, in the absence of a national law that regulates aid in voluntary death, or access to assisted suicide, in Italy the choice of end of life is regulated by sentence number 242 of 2019 of the Constitutional Court on the CappatoAntoniani case. Access to the procedure is legal only under specific health conditions of the persons to be verified in the manner indicated by the Court. And the requirements are: 1. that the person is capable of self-determination, 2. suffering from an irreversible pathology, 3. that this disease is a source of physical or psychological suffering that the person considers intolerable and 4. that he or she is dependent on life support treatments .
Due to these constraints, numerous compatriots are still forced to emigrate to Switzerland, including those assisted by Marco Cappato and the “civil disobedients” registered with Soccorso Civile. In addition to Sibilla Barbieri, Elena (Veneto), Romano (Lombardy), Massimiliano (Tuscany) and Paola (Emilia Romagna) are remembered: their conditions of “dependence on classic treatments intended as life support”, if the ruling of the Consulta is interpreted in restrictively, they cannot be considered as entry requirements.
Who was Sibilla Barbieri
Author, producer, director and actress, she was the founder, together with Simona Barbieri, of the production company The Siliànactive since 2008. Among his most recent works God Save the Queen (2020) and the docu-series for RaiPlay More than whoever other in which his son Vittorio Parpaglioni also participated.
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