Rome, April 30, 2017 – On April 20 last the Chamber of Deputies approved the law on “the end of life directions” (DAT). Luca Savarino, coordinator of the Baptist, Methodist and Waldensian Commission for Bioethics, expressed to NEV Agency his appreciation for the law “which doesn’t present deviations towards euthanasia, but correctly interprets the DAT as an extension of the informed consent in accordance with the spirit of Art. 32 of the Italian Constitution, which guarantees the freedom of care”.
Savarino continues: “The law has the merit of placing Italy at the same level of most European and Western countries, also for the possibility of suspending the hydration and the artificial feeding which are correctly understood as ‘therapeutic measures’ in every respect. We have now to remain vigilant and wait for the passage of the law through the Senate”. MP Luigi Lacquaniti (Democratic Party) and member of the Waldensian church of Brescia (Northern Italy) – the only Protestant present in Parliament during this legislature – declared: “This is a law representing a progress in civilization. Like all laws regarding civil liberties, it does not detract rights from anyone or harms anyone, but adds new rights to those who intend to use them. The approved text is well balanced and gives wide space for the relationship between patients and physicians, and provides certainty to the action of health staff. It is not a law in favor of assisted suicide, but allows the patient to say no to therapeutic obstinacy”.
