An 89-year-olfd Bologna woman
suffering from a severe form of Parkinson's Disease on Wednesday
committed assisted suicide in a Swiss clinic helped by two
Italian right-to-die activists who risk five-12 years in jail
for committing the act, still a crime in Italy.
Paola R., the 89-year-old woman from Bologna, who "suffered from
Parkinson's disease in a very serious form and who had contacted
the Luca Coscioni Association, died in the Dignitas Clinic in
Switzerland, carrying out assisted suicide," said the
association.
She had been taken to Zurich Tuesday by the two activists of
Legal Euthanasia and the Coscioni Association, Felicetta Maltese
and Virginia Fiume, who knowingly committed an act of civil
disobedience to Italy's law against euthanasia and assisted
suicide.
Paola was not kept alive by life-support treatment, so she was
excluded from the possibility of assisted suicide in Italy.
Some patients who have been kept alive by aggressive life
support systems have been allowed to end their lives on the
basis of a high court ruling in Italy.
Coscioni treasurer Marco Cappato is currently on trial in at
least one case having been acquitted in others.
photo: Cappato
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