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Recognize the right to self-determination, guarantee certain times, transparent protocols and uniform healthcare throughout the regional territory for patients suffering from irreversible pathologies and intolerable suffering. This is the objective of the regional law proposal presented by Elisabetta Barbuto, regional councilor of the 5 Star Movement in Calabria, containing “Regional provisions for technical-health support for medically assisted suicide”.
The proposed law
The initiative arises from the need to operationally implement the principles and limits established by Sentence no. 242/2019 of the Constitutional Court and the subsequent pronouncements of the judges of the laws, filling an organizational void which today risks generating unequal treatment and bureaucratic obstacles for vulnerable patients.
“We are not talking about creating new rights or introducing shortcuts, but about regulating with rigor, humanity and clarity what the Constitutional Court has already established”, declares M5S councilor Elisabetta Barbuto. «With this bill Calabria intends to equip itself with a certain organizational framework within the Regional Health Service. We want to prevent people exhausted by illness and pain from having to face unnerving bureaucratic disputes to have their will and their right not to suffer respected.”
Multidisciplinary commissions and role of the Ethics Committee
The proposed law provides for the establishment, within each Health Authority of the Region, of a multidisciplinary evaluation Commission (made up of palliative doctors, psychiatrists, anesthetists, medical examiners, psychologists and nurses) active on a voluntary basis and without new burdens for the regional budget.
The Commission will have the task of ascertaining the existence of the clinical requirements, ensuring careful management and informing the patient as a priority on access to palliative care and pain therapy.
The cornerstone of the path’s guarantee will be the role of the Calabria Region Ethics Committee (CET), referred to in the provision to ensure that every choice is made in total freedom, authenticity and protected from any external conditioning or situation of abandonment.
The proposal also provides for continuous monitoring through an annual evaluation clause in the Regional Council to verify the full functionality and fairness of the service provided in the various provinces.
Barbuto’s words
«We also follow with great attention and respect the popular initiatives underway on this issue, such as the collection of signatures for the ‘Liberi Subito’ campaign promoted by the Coscioni Association», concludes Barbuto. «Our council text aims to accelerate the institutional process in the Regional Assembly, offering a balanced synthesis between the speed of responses due to the sick, the protection of the most fragile people and the full involvement of the Ethics Committee and the Calabrian palliative care networks».