ROME (ITALPRESS) – “A national law is needed on the end of life.” “Never did religious wars, but I always looked reality in the face. Remember with Covid? I was the first to establish the red zone, to close everything, including the Venice carnival, while others organized spritzes….” This was said in an interview with “La Repubblica” newspaper by the president of the Veneto Region, Luca Zaia. That of the Veneto Region “is not a regulation. It is a circular, which should set rules, as the end of life already exists. There is the Consulta ruling of 2019. It establishes that a terminally ill person can apply if these four requirements are met: inauspicious diagnosis, maintaining life from supports, severe physical and mental suffering, and freedom of choice. In Veneto we have had seven applications.” The application must be made “to the health care companies. Then an ethics committee decides.”
Of the law made in Tuscany, “I think the government will challenge it. But the point is that we cannot make twenty different regional laws, all at risk.” To those who do not want it, “I say that for consistency they should make a law to prevent implementing the Consulta’s ruling,” certainly, Zaia emphasizes, “you cannot bury your head in the sand. Pretend that the end of life is not there.” Polls say Italians are overwhelmingly in favor. “Shouldn’t politics take this into account? On ethical issues, political tunic should not prevail.
Fratelli d’Italia says we need to focus on palliative care? Yes, we in Veneto are the first in palliative care. We must commit to doing even more…But there is a but, terminally ill patients who ask for access to the end-of-life procedure refuse palliative care, making an intimate and personal choice,” he concludes.
– Photo Ipa Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
