Euthanasia was back in the media spotlight here on Thursday as a new poll showed growing public support for it and a leading Catholic monthly aired its views on the 'right to die'. The survey by research institute Eurispes was presented to the Senate as it started examining bills aimed at legalizing 'living wills' allowing people to reject excessive life-prolonging treatments before they become ill.
The poll suggested that 68% of Italians are in favour of euthanasia. Less than a quarter, 23.5%, were opposed to the practice no matter what the circumstances, while 8.5% were uncertain.
Eurispes said backing for the practice had soared since the 1980s, when only 24.5% of Italians were in favour.
The results suggested support had inched up since the start of December, when a similar poll showed 64% in favour. A substantial minority of those questioned, 26.3%, thought euthanasia was already being secretly carried out by doctors in Italian hospitals, even though only 6% said they personally knew of any such incidence. Euthanasia, which is illegal in Italy, came under intense public scrutiny late last year, amid the debate about a terminally ill man's right to reject treatment keeping him alive.
Pierluigi Welby, who suffered from advanced muscular dystrophy, died days before Christmas after an anaesthetist gave him sedatives and unplugged a respirator that had kept him alive for many years.
A Rome court had ruled that he theoretically had the right to refuse his life-sustaining medical therapy but this right could not be exercised because there was no legislation explicitly enshrining it in Italian law.
There is extensive debate about the difference between this sort of action and euthanasia with some arguing that there is no difference.
Although euthanasia is a highly sensitive subject in most countries, the issue is particularly charged in Italy owing to the Church's outright rejection of it.
At the time, the Vatican said it might be ethically acceptable for doctors to end Welby's treatment if it was merely prolonging his "final agony".
Some observers suggested the comments indicated a softening of the Vatican's stance on the issue. But the highly influential Jesuit monthly Civilta Cattolica on Thursday highlighted the fine line between euthanasia and allowing people to reject life-prolonging treatments.
The Italian Senate is looking at eight bills aiming to legalize "living wills", legal documents in which a person dictates treatment preferences in the event of an incapacitating illness, allowing him or her to reject excessive life-prolonging treatments.
"We hope the patient is not given the option of renouncing water and food, including that administered intravenously," the monthly said, referring to the Senate's work.
It said such a move would be a way of sneaking euthanasia into Italian legislation and would probably not be welcomed by the majority of Italians. It also pointed to the fact that six of the bills leave the final say on treatment to the patient, "thereby reducing the doctor to the position of merely executing a patient's decision".
Euthanasia, which is punishable with a ten-year sentence in Italy, is currently only permitted in Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands and the US state of Oregon.
