The father of Eluana Englaro, a woman in an irreversible coma, on Tuesday thanked the governor of Piedmont for saying the region would be prepared to help Eluana end her life in accordance with a supreme court ruling.
''I can only thank governor (Mercedes) Bresso and send her all my appreciation: from her clear and precise words I realise that she has understood perfectly the nature of our predicament,'' said Beppino Englaro, who has fought for more than a decade for a dignified end to his daughter's life.
''Naturally we will take (the region's) availability into consideration,'' he added.
Bresso said earlier on Tuesday that the region would be prepared to make a public clinic available for 38-year-old Eluana to end her life ''if it were asked''.
Despite a landmark ruling in November when the Cassation Court confirmed that Eluana's feeding tube could be removed, her father has yet to find a clinic willing to carry out the sentence.
The Lombardy region, where Eluana is cared for by nuns at a Lecco clinic, has refused to make clinics or health workers available to help her end her life.
A clinic in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region offered its services in December, only to withdraw them again when Health Minister Maurizio Sacconi issued a last-minute guideline stating that the removal of feeding tubes from patients in a vegetative state was ''illegal''.
