Tuscany became the first region in Italy to legalize assisted suicide this month. The law passed despite the fact that the Italian parliament has not issued national legislation to undo the current prohibition on euthanasia.
Tuscany’s law, which passed by a regional government vote of 27-13, allows citizens to commit assisted suicide if the committee assigned to review euthanasia cases decides that the following conditions are met: “incurable illness, unbearable suffering, dependence on medical equipment, and free and conscious choice of the patient.”
The committee which will approve assisted suicide requests “consists of a palliative doctor, a psychiatrist, an anesthetist, a psychologist, a general practitioner and a nurse,” CNE News reported.
READ: Australian state moves to expand assisted suicide laws
According to Reuters, Tuscany’s law requires the committee to review applications for assisted suicide within 30 days and provide the necessary drugs and medical staff for the assisted suicide within 10 days of approval. The law is framed as a means to help patients by giving them immediate relief, but recent reports out of countries with broader access to euthanasia show that sometimes patients rush for approval for euthanasia after receiving a fatal diagnosis, only to learn that the diagnosis was wrong and that they actually had more time to live than expected.
Cardinal Augusto Paolo Lojudice, president of Tuscany’s bishops’ conference called the law “not an achievement, but a defeat for everyone, according to OSV News.
The Italian Bishops’ Conference has issued a statement criticizing Tuscany’s law, the practice of assisted suicide, and the fact that the government is prioritizing death over palliative care, while the Church has done much to provide healthcare for the sick and elderly.
“We express concern for recent regional initiatives on the subject of end-of-life. The first task of the civil community and the health system is to assist and care, not to hasten death…Procuring death, directly or through medically assisted suicide, radically contrasts with the value of the person, with the purposes of the State and with the medical profession itself,” the bishops’ statement reads, according to Vatican News.
Euthanasia is still a crime in Italy, prohibited in the Italian Criminal Code. In 2019, the Italian Constitutional Court ruled that euthanasia is not a crime if committed by will of the patient because of a chronic, life-threatening condition or intolerable pain. However, as the Italian parliament never came to a decision on the issue, there is no national legal framework in place for assisted suicide.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who opposes assisted suicide, is reportedly considering whether or not to file an appeal against Tuscany’s new legislation.
