The President of the Tuscany Region, Eugenio Giani (ANSA)
A regional law on assisted suicide that is inserted among the “procedures” provided by the Health Service for those who request it and have the requirements to access it. This is what the law approved on Tuesday by Regional Council of Tuscany Making the Region the first in Italy to approve a rule that sets procedures and times for regional health care on the end of life. The standard on “Procedures and times for regional health care for medically assisted suicide, pursuant to and as a result of the sentence of the Constitutional Court 242/2019”, was promoted by the Association Luca Coscioni and supported by over ten thousand signatures.
From now on, people who want to access the assisted suicide can apply to the ASL, and on times and methods of response of the Commission in charge of verifying the existence of the requirements set by the Consulta so that the help to suicide does not constitute a crime. The law on the end of life has been approved with 27 votes favorable of the Democratic Party – with the exception of the regional councilor dem Lucia del Robertis who did not express its vote -, Italy Viva, 5 Star Movement, Mixed Group and 13 votes against the center -right (Lega, Forza Italia and brothers d ‘ Italy).
The proposal of popular initiative “free immediately” has been modified with a dozen amendments and sub -amendments aimed at obtaining a procedural, merely organizational provision, which said times and ways of implementation of the provisions of the Constitutional Court. Within 15 days from the entry into force of the law, USL companies must establish a permanent multidisciplinary commission for verifying the existence of the requirements for access to assisted suicide.
The law also sets the times and methods for access to the end of life: the procedure for verifying the requirements is expected to end within 20 days of receipt of the application. In the event of a positive outcome, the permanent commission proceeds to approval or definition of the methods of implementing medically assisted suicide within 10 days. And within 7 days the local health company ensures technical and pharmacological support and health care for the preparation for the self -administration of the drug. The rule also establishes that these services are free and are allocated 10 thousand euros per year for three years. In addition to the amendments, the classroom has also approved two orders of the day: one of Italy alive for the enhancement of palliative care and investments in structures such as Hospice and Community Hospitals; And the other of the PD group that commits the junta to take action to start a national legislative path to regulate the assisted suicide in an organic and uniform way. Numerous amendments of Forza Italia rejected.
The goal was to define respect and direct application, relating to roles, procedures and times of the health service, the verification of the conditions and methods of access to medically assisted death, In order for the help to suicide does not constitute a crime, as outlined by the judgments of the Constitutional Court.
Illustrating the act, the president of the Health Commission in the classroom Enrico Sostagni (Pd) He explained that the text “establishes the procedure with which people can apply to the ASL, but also the times and methods with which the Commission in charge analyzes the issues, involves the ethical committee, and gives the answer to applicants, checking the entire procedure that must be followed. So far it happens that the requirements occur and then they leave the only people who must find health care and have to pay it. From tomorrow this will be done with voluntary health personnel – he continued supports – So respecting the consciousness objection of the health workers, who will follow the whole part: they will provide the drugs and will be all absolutely free ».
Entering the merits of the standard, The law establishes a multidisciplinary commission (composed of palliativist doctor, psychiatrist, anesthesiologist, psychologist and medical medical examiner) in charge of examining requests. Among the most significant changes compared to the original proposal, the insertion of a paragraph that reads this: “The Commission verifies preliminary that the applicant has received clear and adequate information on the possibility of accessing a path of palliative care”. Other clarifications are made on the methods of implementation that “must be such as to avoid abuses to the detriment of vulnerable people”. The assistance is also expected to be provided by the “on a voluntary” health personnel: a formula that leaves the door open to conscientious objection. The medically assisted suicide will be carried out free of charge: a financial rule has been inserted which provides for the region an expense of 10 thousand euros per year for three years. Funds that will be taken by the appropriations for “social rights, social and family policies” under “disability interventions”.
The president of Tuscany Eugenio Giani (in the photo above) In his intervention in the classroom he spoke of a law “that more than fixing principles wants to be of medical-administrative regulation. We try to put order and fix a procedure, a protocol, to rationalize what happens in the ASL ».
In favor of the law the councilors of 5 Star Movement and also those of Italy alive, who asked for the approval of an agenda on the increase in palliative care, and to Some councilors of the PD of the Catholic Area such as Cristina Giachi and Andrea Pieroni who had expressed perplexity on the proposal, then exceeded: «I want to thank the PD group because we had intense moments of discussion and comparison – he said in the classroom -. I oriented myself to express vote in favor of this text of the law also because I remember to myself that the best defense of the values to which we refer to it essentially being consistent with them in sometimes tortuous moments of life “. For Pieroni it is therefore “unavoidable national legislation”.
Among the opposition files he expressed himself hard Giovanni Galli, Former goalkeeper of the national team, councilor of the League: for him the law is “an ideological manifesto” that feeds the culture of waste and makes Tuscany “a secular and individualistic region. Those who see in death the solution of their sufferings – he said – often live in solitude and should be welcomed and comforted, not killed “. Also Diego Petrucci, of Fratelli d’Italia, contested the ideological approach of the provision.
Critic the Catholic world, starting with the bishops: “Tuscany played a pioneering role in the abolition of the death penalty; This land has always had a strong tradition of protecting life and health, today we are in a complex and delicate situation, where you risk a vulnusSaid the president of the Tuscan Episcopal Conference, the Archbishop of Siena and Cardinal Paolo Lojudice Regarding the bill, “it is not a question of judging the suffering of others but sorry that Tuscany wants to claim a primacy in this area. Now let’s take note of the choice made by the Regional Council but this will not limit our action in favor of life, always and in any case. To the chaplains in hospitals, religious, religious and volunteers who operate in hospice and in all those places where every day we confront the disease, pain and death I say not to surrender and to continue to be carriers of hope, of life. Despite it all. Sanction with a regional law the right to death is not a goal, but a defeat for everyone».
The debate also intervened Don Massimo Angelelli, Director of the CEI office for the pastoral care of health: “The bishops of Tuscany spoke clearly,” he said, “It is not imaginable that a system that was created to take care and to give relief to people can offer paths of death. We believe it is not in the ropes of the National Health Service. In compliance with everyone, of course, it should also be recognized that in the Italian legal system there is no right to death. We imagine justice as a balance: where there is a right, on the other side there is a duty. If there is a right to death, someone has a duty to get me death. This is not acceptable ».
Also Communion and liberation In a note he criticized the bill: «We hope that our region will continue the positive trajectory of its history, and that This discussion becomes an opportunity for a profound reflection on the conception of care and dignity of the human person, aware that the care of the suffering is a sign and measure of the degree of civilization and progress of a people», He wrote the movement in a note,” we are aware of the delicacy of the theme, and of the potential impact that future decisions will have about the perspective of those who are curated and those who care, we are aware that it takes care of the end. “Being with” the patient, accompanying him, listening to him, making him feel loved and wanted, is what can avoid solitude, fear of suffering, disheartening “.
