MILAN (AP) — Tuscany approved a bill regulating medically assisted suicide Tuesday, becoming Italy's first region to approve a right-to-die law in the Roman Catholic country after the constitutional court effectively legalized the procedure in 2019.
The law requires a medical and ethics commission to consider an end-of-life request for no more than 30 days. If approved, the regional health services must provide the necessary medication and a doctor within 10 days. All medical personnel have the right to opt out.
The law passed by a vote of 27-13 in the central Italian region governed by the center-left.
“The law does nothing more than provide objective procedures and clarity,’’ the regional governor, Eugenio Giani, said before the vote. “I feel that we are giving a national message.”
The Italian Constitutional Court ruled in 2019 that assisted suicide was legal for patients affected by an irreversible pathology with intolerable physical and psychological pain. They must be capable of making a free and conscious decision.
Despite the high court ruling, the Italian parliament has not passed national right-to-die legislation. The law in Tuscany could face a constitutional challenge if Premier Giorgia Meloni's far-right-led government, which is broadly opposed to euthanasia, deems that the region has overstepped its powers.
