The End-of-life Debate in Italy: some ethical legal concerns

The twenty-first century is the period in which modern science is dominating with its discoveries. The advances of modern science have produced the collateral effect (reanimation techniques) of prolonging biological life (persistent vegetative state) of individuals with severe brain damage. In this context, many ethical questions arise: to what extent can decisional autonomy prevail? In those cases in which the person has not expressed his/her opinion with reference to euthanasia or assisted suicide, and can no longer express it, what are the decisional powers, rights and duties of other actors (i.e. family, physician etc.)? How do the decisions concerning these topics affect relationships? In some legal systems Law has given prompt answers. There are, however, legal systems like the Italian one in which the ethical debate is still very heated and the legal instruments are very poor. In addressing the link between these bioethical issues and their influence on the moral attitudes of the different actors involved, the study aims at showing the different ethical positions and the response of Law. In particular, it seeks to survey the current state of affairs, analyze emerging trends and problems in Italy. The study will take into account the Italian bioethical debate as well as the Italian legislation in this topic including recent leading cases decided by the Italian Courts (Eluana Englaro case, Piergiorgio Welby case).