The father of Eluana Englaro, Beppino Englaro, won a ruling in November giving him the go-ahead to remove the feeding tube and stop hydration that keeps his daughter comfortable and alive. The ruling overturns a previous ruling from July in a case that has many similarities to the tragic Terri Schiavo case that ended with her death in 2005. In the Italian case, Eluana has been in a vegetative state for 17 years following a tragic car accident. For ten years Beppino has been in and out of various courts seeking approval for euthanizing his daughter.

In December Italy’s health minister, Maurizio Sacconi, stated that removing the feeding tubes from patients in a vegetative state was “illegal.” But now a regional Italian court ruled that the region of Lombardy will be required to provide a clinic and health workers where the feeding tube of Eluana can be removed and hydration stopped, thereby ending her life.

In Italy, direct euthanasia is forbidden and illegal, however patients do have the right to refuse any and all treatment. But this is the first time a region has been ordered by the courts to directly intervene, forcing them to provide a clinic and health workers to end a human being’s life.

Currently Eluana is being cared for by Misericordine nuns at a hospice in Lecco; they say they will gladly care for Eluana for as long as she naturally lives. They refused to comply with the November sentence to remove the tubes, thereby buying more time for Eluana.

The Lombardy Region has decided not to comply with the new ruling. The president of the region, Roberto Formigoni issued a statement to journalists saying:

At least for the moment we do not intend to comply with the instructions of the sentence because the Court’s evaluations appear unfounded to us. I believe that this can easily be recognized by anyone who looks at the sentence from a legal point of view. From a general point of view it seems to me that this bouncing of pronouncements between the different magistratures has made us lose sight of the main point; a body who lives in a vegetative state, but fully human. Nobody is in a position to say that this state is irreversible.

... We cannot be forced to do something which no law compels us to do; if we did it, we could be called to judgement.

Gabriella Carlucci from the Italian People of Freedom party commented, “no public structure in the national health service could or should participate in a murder.”

The Catholic Archbishop of Turin, Cardinal Sevrino Poletto, says letting someone starve to death is euthanasia, and as with any other form of taking a life, is wrong. “The law of God never goes against man. To go against the law of God means going against man. Therefore, if the two laws are in contradiction it is because the law of man is wrong and will be revealed as such by its own fruits,” he said. 

In anticipation of the culture of death that is gaining ground in Italy and elsewhere and that seems to be on the verge of winning out and forcing the unnatural death of poor Eluana, the Cardinal offers some advice:

The possibility exists of conscientiously objecting when the application of the law contrasts with his or her own principles. No human law can go against conscience, obliging it to commit acts that are against our own convictions.

This is valid for a doctor who is being asked to practice an abortion, as well as for the one who is forced to remove Eluana’s feeding tube, or for the pharmacist who refuses to sell a certain pill.

Two regions, Friuli Venezia-Giulia and Piedmont had stepped forward, or should I say backward, and had offered their geographic regions as killing fields. However one clinic in Friuli Venezia-Giulia has thought better of it and withdrawn the offer; others are still pending.

Beppino maintains that he is only seeking death with dignity for his daughter. But of course, there is nothing dignified about the very dehumanizing process of starvation and dehydration.

The Italian court is trying to legislate, just like courts in America. Despite a huge uproar from the general population, pro-life groups and a letter signed by over 700 physicians who would have Eluana live, the Italian court seems bent on ordering a murder — a mandate from the people and the rule of law being ignored.

The case closely parallels that of Terri Schiavo — March 31 will be the fourth anniversary of her death — in many ways. I hope and pray that the end is much different.

(AP Images)

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