End of life: device for self-administration of lethal drug available to 55-year-old Tuscan woman

Florence, 16 October (LaPresse) – A device has been found that would allow Libera, who suffers from multiple sclerosis that has paralysed her from the neck down, to self-administer the lethal drug for assisted suicide to which she has had access. This was announced by the Luca Coscioni Association, explaining that yesterday, Wednesday 15 October, the judge of the Florence court, to whom the woman had appealed, ordered the North-West Tuscany Local Health Authority to provide the equipment within 15 days, verifying its functionality and compatibility through an infusion pump that can be activated by a control sensor, eye pointer or other means, and to make the drugs and devices available to the doctor who will assist Libera in the procedure. The 55-year-old Tuscan woman, who is completely paralysed due to multiple sclerosis, had applied for access to assisted suicide and had been given the go-ahead by her local health authority in July 2024, but being paralysed from the neck down, she is unable to take the lethal drug independently. For this reason, assisted by a legal team coordinated by lawyer Filomena Gallo, national secretary of the Luca Coscioni Association (and also composed of Professor Giacomo D’Amico, lawyers Francesca Re and Alessia Cicatelli, and lawyers Angioletto Calandrini and Rocco Berardo), she filed an urgent appeal with the Florence court in March 2025, requesting that her doctor be authorised to administer the drug. The judge then raised the question of the constitutional legitimacy of Article 579 of the Criminal Code, which defines the crime of consensual homicide: the administration of the drug by the doctor to Libera would fall under this category of crime. The Constitutional Court ruled last July, urgently requesting verification at national and international level, and not only regionally, of the existence of devices suitable for self-administration of the drug for assisted suicide. In accordance with the terms ordered by the judge in Florence, technical opinions were received from the Ministry of Health, the Higher Institute of Health and the Higher Health Council on the existence of devices suitable for the self-administration of lethal drugs to Libera by means of eye or voice commands or other non-manual methods.