The high-profile case of a terminally ill man whose request to die is now before a Rome judge has sparked a heated debate in Italy over euthanasia and life-sustaining medical therapy.
Piergiorgio Welby, 51, suffers from advanced muscular dystrophy and is no longer able to move. He breathes through a respirator, communicates via a voice synthesiser and receives nourishment through a feeding tube.
In September he appealed to President Giorgio Napolitano and parliament to legalise mercy killing so that he could "die in dignity". Earlier this month he asked doctors treating him to unplug his ventilator.
This last request, backed by Italy's Radical party, has been brought to a Rome court. Judge Angela Salvio on Tuesday asked for more time to decide and her ruling is now expected at the start of next week.
But Welby's family and Radical supporters of his campaign say this is too long to wait and they have released a doctor's report showing that his condition is worsening.
"We are ready to unplug Welby's respirator as soon as he asks us to," Radical party secretary Rita Bernadini reiterated on Wednesday. "We don't want to be accomplices to torturers who are insensitive to his suffering".
In an open letter to parliament last month, Welby said Italian lawmakers had left him no choice but to carry out an act of "civil disobedience" with the aid of the Radicals.
Next week's court decision on Welby's request is being seen as a test case which will affect how Italy deals with issues such as euthanasia and life-prolonging medical therapy in the future.
At the heart of the Welby case and the wider debate in the country is the question of when the medical treatment and therapy given to the terminally ill become excessive.
Most commentators draw a line between euthanasia and suspending life-prolonging measures which are futile and cause excessive discomfort to the patient.
Welby, who wants to be sedated and then have his respirator unplugged, says his position is the latter and many Italians agree with him.
CALLS FOR NEW LAW.
About 130 MPs of all political stripes say they support Welby's battle and have promised to take part in candle-lit vigils for him in various cities on Saturday night. Some 24 MPs from the ruling centre left have called for a law enshrining the rights Welby wants.
House Speaker Fausto Bertinotti said on Wednesday that it was right that parliament should start thinking about such "serious problems".
A poll released earlier this month showed that some 64% of Italians side with Welby and think his appeal to die should be heeded. Only 20% said doctors should refuse Welby's request.
The poll appeared to show that Italians are more open to the idea of assisted suicide than parliamentarians, many of whom are Catholics and follow the Church's teaching that life should end at the moment of natural death.
Pope Benedict has repeatedly said that euthanasia is a "trampling" of the right to life. On Wednesday he urged governments to ensure the terminally ill were helped to "face death with dignity".
But when asked about the Welby case, Cardinal Raffaele Martino, head of Vatican's 'Justice and Peace' department, commented that he was against "excessive therapy". He did not elaborate.
A group of Italian lawmakers is working on a draft law which would legalise 'living wills' but stop short of permitting euthanasia.
Living wills, or biological testaments, are legal documents in which a person dictates patient treatment preferences in the event of an incapacitating illness, allowing him or her to reject excessive life-prolonging treatments.
Most MPs are in favour of living wills and the Vatican has also expressed cautious approval of the idea providing euthanasia is excluded.
