Comatose Woman Allowed to Die

Eluana Englaro was only twenty years old when she was in a devastating car crash in Italy that placed her in a coma in 1992. For the past seventeen years, her father has been pushing for the right to have her feeding tube removed so that she could escape the vegetative state she was in.

However, asking for this was no easy task. In the heavily Catholic country of Italy, euthanasia is illegal. Because of this, Eluana’s father, Beppino Englaro, faced many court battles before he would get this right. His legal case was based on the fact that even though euthanasia is illegal, patients do have the right to refuse treatment. Beppino stated that his daughter had once visited a friend in a coma, and confided in him that she never wanted to live in a vegetative state such as that. “She had clear ideas about her life,” says Beppino, “and for her, life was about freedom, not an obligation to live."

Beppino’s legal battles finally ended in November, when Italy’s Court of Cassation (Italy’s highest court) gave their approval for the feeding tube to be removed. After receiving this approval, it took Beppino several months to find a clinic that would remove the feeding tube because of the warning given by the Italian Health Minister.

A private clinic in Udine finally agreed to remove Eluana’s feeding tube, and she was taken to that clinic Monday night. Protesters did attempt to stop the ambulance carrying her, but they were not successful.

This case has been quite controversial in Italy, particularly the religious aspect of the case. Pope Benedict XVI issued a statement Sunday, calling euthanasia “a false solution to suffering.”

Eluana’s tube is expected to be removed in roughly three days. Clinic officials were required to give police an outline of what they plan to do for Eluana as part of their legal agreement. Another part of this legal decision stated that no one can photograph or videotape Eluana, and only certain people are even allowed to visit her clinic room. Because Eluana cannot be euthanized, it will take an estimated twenty days for her to die.