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Italian Left Launches "Living Wills" Euthanasia Campaign in the Wake of Eluana Englaro Crisis
LifeSiteNews ^ | 2/13/09 | Hilary White

Posted on 02/14/2009 12:51:34 PM PST by wagglebee

ROME, February 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Italian legislators are said to be quietly dropping a proposed measure that would have prohibited the withdrawal of food and hydration from comatose patients after the death of Eluana Englaro.

While Eluana herself was being buried in a Catholic ceremony in her native village of Lecco, the Italian government turned its attention to pending legislation on "living wills" that many fear will usher in a legal situation that will make cases such as hers more common. Direct euthanasia remains illegal in Italy, but the removal of food and hydration remains a contested issue, and no direct action was taken in the case of Eluana to stop her killing.

Although under Italian law a patient, or a patient's guardian, can refuse treatment, it remains to be seen if food and hydration will be regarded as medical treatment under the new law, which is heavily favored by the left.

Italian novelist Umberto Eco, in an article published in the left-leaning La Repubblica daily supporting the euthanasia push, wrote, "Now that this young woman is dead, we can talk about these problems without fear of behaving like a stalking jackal around a suffering body."

Mina Welby, a euthanasia campaigner, said today that the living wills legislation is necessary to avoid a repeat of the Eluana Englaro situation. Welby, a spokesman for the far-left Luca Coscioni Association, a group that campaigns for euthanasia and embryonic stem cell research, announced an all-out campaign for the living wills law, starting with a Resolution to be presented to the Rome municipal government.

"We turn to individuals, associations, movements: we will collect signatures in the Catholic world, parties, Universities and among foreigners: this is a battle of civilisation and everybody is included," she said.

"If approved, this resolution will have immediate effect, allowing citizens to make their choices regarding health treatment public. What has happened to Eluana, for whom it took 17 years of appealing to have her will recognised by the courts, will not happen again," said Mario Staderini, of the extreme left Italian Radical Party.

Italy's president, Giorgio Napolitano, a former leader of Italy's now-defunct Communist party, said during the crisis over Eluana that the solution to these kinds of cases is to institute the living wills legislation. Napolitano was accused by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of having contributed to Eluana's death by his refusal to endorse an emergency "decree law" last Friday that would have halted the dehydration process.


Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Italian PM Accuses President of Complicity with Murder
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09021001.html



TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: eluanaenglaro; euthanasia; moralabsolutes; prolife
Italian novelist Umberto Eco, in an article published in the left-leaning La Repubblica daily supporting the euthanasia push, wrote, "Now that this young woman is dead, we can talk about these problems without fear of behaving like a stalking jackal around a suffering body."

You ARE stalking jackals! You succeeded in murdering Eluana and now you are thirsty for even more blood.

1 posted on 02/14/2009 12:51:35 PM PST by wagglebee
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To: cgk; Coleus; cpforlife.org; narses; Salvation; 8mmMauser

Pro-Life Ping


2 posted on 02/14/2009 12:52:03 PM PST by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: 185JHP; 230FMJ; 50mm; 69ConvertibleFirebird; Aleighanne; Alexander Rubin; ...
Moral Absolutes Ping!

Freepmail wagglebee or DirtyHarryY2K to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.

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3 posted on 02/14/2009 12:52:24 PM PST by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: wagglebee
Why do I always hear of living wills stating when to shut off care? How about a living will: "I want to be kept alive by any means possible even if everyone else in the world thinks it would be a horrible existance. Every medical procedure, machine, drug or nutrient able to keep me alive for even a minute longer should be used." That's not necessarily how I would want to live, but it might keep the ghouls in the "right" (read obligation) to die movement at bay for a while.
4 posted on 02/14/2009 1:09:57 PM PST by KarlInOhio (On 9/11 Israel mourned with us while the Palestinians danced in the streets. Who should we support?)
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To: wagglebee
it remains to be seen if food and hydration will be regarded as medical treatment

I'm having difficulty grasping the perverse logic behind that statement. If someone is dehydrated, you hydrate them. If someone is severely malnourished you feed them. Those are not treatments?
5 posted on 02/14/2009 1:12:23 PM PST by allmost
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To: allmost

Do you consider yourself to be undergoing “medical treatment” every time you eat or drink? How about when you breathe? After all, if a person is suffering from a low oxygen content in his blood, breathing is the “cure.”


6 posted on 02/14/2009 1:19:46 PM PST by Tax-chick ("Global leadership means never having to say you're sorry." ~IBD)
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To: Tax-chick

The reduction of human pain, misery, and life itself to an abstract number or idea. The monstrous psychology of the left. It takes a severe detachment from reality and little or no human empathy to regard giving someone water when they are dieing as debatable.


7 posted on 02/14/2009 1:25:06 PM PST by allmost
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To: KarlInOhio

That’s just what my “living” will states. Mr G is the only one who has the right to make decisions for me, and we both agree that ALL life is precious, not just “quality” life.

My dad was in a “vegetative state” and I had to fight to get them to install a feeding tube. I was told he wouldn’t ever come out of it, and he would be like that for 20 years, and did I ***really*** want to get him started on feeding etc, etc, etc. I made them feed him, and 10 days later he woke up and started talking to me. The best years of our relationship were the following 2 years. I am grateful to have had them, even though his “quality” of life may not have been perfect.


8 posted on 02/14/2009 1:45:25 PM PST by Grammy
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To: allmost

I agree. I was simply pointing out the oddity of defining food and water (not to mention air) as “medical treatment.”


9 posted on 02/14/2009 3:29:04 PM PST by Tax-chick ("Global leadership means never having to say you're sorry." ~IBD)
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To: allmost

Because the point of defining food, water, and oxygen as “medical treatment” is to deprive the helpless person of them.


10 posted on 02/14/2009 3:29:57 PM PST by Tax-chick ("Global leadership means never having to say you're sorry." ~IBD)
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To: Tax-chick

I understand. It’s hard to fathom where the concepts even originate much less how they are perpetuated.


11 posted on 02/14/2009 3:31:50 PM PST by allmost
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To: allmost

The concepts originate with Satan. I always find it interesting that euthanasia supporters or “right to die” advocates rarely care to die themselves - they just want to kill other people. “A liar and a murderer from the beginning.”


12 posted on 02/14/2009 3:34:19 PM PST by Tax-chick ("Global leadership means never having to say you're sorry." ~IBD)
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To: wagglebee
Pinged from Terri Dailies


13 posted on 02/14/2009 4:35:49 PM PST by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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