The Marco Cappato and Fabiano Antoniani (dj Fabo) case Paves the way for new assisted suicide legislation In Italy. an overview of statutes from several european countries

The article looks into the case involving Fabiano Antoniani, who following a major road accident, was left tetraplegic. Marco Cappato drove him to a Swiss clinic, where Mr. Antoniani took his own life by self-administration of lethal pentobarbital sodium. Cappato was put on trial, but the Italian Constitutional Court urged the Parliament to decriminalise assisted suicide in extremely serious cases. From a comparison with other European countries, approaches range from restrictive (banning both active euthanasia and assisted suicide), to entirely permissive. An intermediate approach only entails a ban on active euthanasia. It would be desirable to uniformise the diverse national statutes on a European level, which would make it possible for everyone to receive assistance towards ending their suffering, with limitations to incurable cases to be medically verified, and at the end of a path designed to ensure that patient freedom of choice is upheld at all time.