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Italy gov't weighs in right to die case
2009-02-06
ROME - Italy's government issued an emergency decree Friday to prevent a woman in a vegetative state from having her feeding tubes disconnected, stepping into a bitter right-to-die debate that has divided the country. The decree was issued despite court rulings in favor of removing Eluana Englaro's feeding tubes and a warning from Italy's president that the government shouldn't intervene in the case. Premier Silvio Berlusconi said the decree passed at a Cabinet meeting Friday states that feeding and giving water to patients who depend on it "can in no case be suspended." The premier said the government acted because there was no thorough legislation on the issue. "I would feel responsible for failing to come to the rescue of somebody whose life was in danger," Berlusconi said, explaining why the government had decided to intervene. Englaro has been in a vegetative state since 1992, when she suffered a car accident at age 20. Two years later, doctors called her condition irreversible. Her father won a protracted court battle to disconnect her feeding tube, which he said was her wish. This week Englaro was moved to a clinic in northern Italy that agreed to gradually stop feeding her. The transfer set off a firestorm, with appeals from anti-euthanasia groups and Catholic Church officials to keep her alive. Italy does not allow euthanasia. Patients have a right to refuse treatment, but there is no law that allows them to give advance directions on what treatment they wish to receive if they become unconscious. There have been calls to discuss such legislation, but the issue is thorny in country that is overwhelmingly Catholic and is host to the Vatican. Consensus, even within the same political bloc, remains elusive. In an unusual move, the government decree was issued against the advice of Giorgio Napolitano, who as Italy's president is the country's top official and a respected moral voice. He sent a letter asking the government to refrain from intervening, his office said. The text of the letter has not been released but news reports say that Napolitano's argument is that the decree would be in open contrast to a final ruling by a court. In October, the Constitutional Court, Italy's highest court, effectively put its seal of approval on a lower court's ruling allowing the feeding tube to be removed. Since Napolitano has to sign any government decree, the Cabinet decision to move ahead despite the president's recommendation might lead to a bitter battle between two of the country's most senior officials. Berlusconi insisted the decree was urgent since procedures to disconnect Englaro's feeding tube began Friday. He described Englaro as somebody who could even "bear a child and who is in a vegetative state that could change." Elio Sgreccia, a top official with the Vatican's Pontifical Academy for Life, told the ANSA news agency that Englaro "has the right to live." "The political community must sustain her life with the means it has," Sgreccia was quoted as saying.
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