End of life: ALS patient obtains equipment for assisted suicide

The ASL Napoli 3 Sud will have to equip itself with an autonomous self-administration system through eye pointing for Irene, the fictitious name of a 72-year-old woman suffering from ALS, already recognized as having the requirements to access medically assisted suicide.

According to what the Luca Coscioni association announced, with an order dated 9 October, the Torre Annunziata court accepted the joint request of Irene and the local health authorities involved, ordering the duplication of the equipment already used in Tuscany by Libera, a 55-year-old completely paralyzed due to multiple sclerosis. After a year and a half from the request for verification of his conditions for access to assisted suicide and an emergency appeal, the Tuscan device was transferred to Irene's home, who tried it on 14 September. During the last hearing Irene had said: "I have not changed my mind about wanting to die through medically assisted suicide. When I tried the eye pointer that will help me do so and I saw that I could easily carry out the procedure I felt reassured. At this point I decided to die by freely choosing when, but I haven't set a precise date yet. If the suffering is intolerable, I have to resist because I want to leave knowing that my daughter and my husband are well, so I need to spend more time with them. I haven't decided on a date but I want to be sure that I can decide freely, not because I will no longer be able to use the machinery that is now available."

"Irene was able to try the equipment and choose to wait. This is the meaning of self-determination: being able to decide if and when to proceed, postpone or change her mind, without losing the protection obtained", explains Filomena Gallo, lawyer and national secretary of the Luca Coscioni Association.