rose to 14 MPs of the PDL signatories to the motion in defense of freedom of treatment made yesterday by Benedetto Della Vedova the Chamber of Deputies. The signatures, gathered yesterday, Margherita Boniver, Peppino Calderisi, Mario Pepe, Alfonso Papa, Lella Golfo, Fiamma Nirenstein, Enrico Costa, Francesco and Chiara Moroni Nucara, were added today including Antonione, Giorgio La Malfa, and Sergio Pizzolante Umberto Scapagnini. The motion
The Chamber of Deputies, said that
the dramatic story of Eluana raised in the political and parliamentary, and many understandable questions about the limits and conditions for exercising the constitutional right to freedom of treatment by patients who are in an unconscious state and can not pay validly consent to medical treatment to which they are, or may be subjected;
The development of forms of artificial life support to those living in conditions of complete and irreversible unconsciousness, means, as by many years was called for an adjustment legislation that makes it possible for these patients, the exercise of a right, that the loss of consciousness did not preclude, if expansion The cases and conditions in which the patient's consent shall be deemed assumed and not withdrawn, the principle of "informed consent" would lose its importance to general foundation of legitimacy of health care and the relationships between doctors and patients;
With decree granting the complaint lodged by Mr Beppino Englaro, consistent with the pronouncement of the Court of Cassation (First Civil Chamber, Judgement 16/10/2007, No. 21748), the Court of Appeal of Milan has recognized that Article 32 of the Constitution (as mentioned in Article 33 of Law 23 December 1978, n. 833 "Establishment of the National Health Service) is also applicable if in cui il titolare del diritto alla cura non sia in grado di prestare o revocare il proprio consenso, a condizione che in precedenza – anche in assenza di una disciplina positiva sulle cosiddette “direttive anticipate” – la sua volontà sia stata dichiarata in forma esplicita;
Su questa base, la Corte di Cassazione si è limitata a stabilire le condizioni entro cui, all’interno dell’attuale ordinamento, sia esercitabile un diritto costituzionale che non viene meno per il fatto che il Parlamento non ne ha previsto una specifica regolamentazione legislativa;
Proprio il principio della separazione dei poteri implica la possibilità che un diritto ( e a maggior titolo, un diritto costituzionale), when the legislature has not remedied the reasons for regulations that make it uncertain operating conditions, give rise to a demand for justice and recognition and enforcement are in a preliminary giurisdizionale.Le issues relating to informed consent and the freedom of treatment arise, since Legally, profiles are quite specific, distinguishing them from euthanasia, which also tend to be associated in the public discussion and controversy in the political and cultural right that the Supreme Court has defined "therapeutic self-determination" is established in unambiguously, by a constitutional rule, euthanasia is a crime as that provided by our penal code. The fact that the two case may raise issues or questions from the common ethical, religious and cultural does not authorize in any way to confuse the nature of a proper regulatory point of view;
Since the case of Eluana has also argued by many that nutrition and hydration (or, in other cases, breathing) artificial not be regarded as medical treatment, but merely forms of care and material assistance, which would not be necessary to provide, or may revoke your consent, such a narrow interpretation is the completely unjustified, since it excludes from the scope of health care practices, which necessarily involve the use of instruments and bio-medical technologies, which are ethically legitimate objective of preventing death and suffering of patients;
The fact that our legal system is uniquely oriented to guarantee the freedom of treatment is also apparent from the fact that the Italian Parliament approved from time to ratify the Oviedo Convention (Law 28 March 2001, n.145), the governments that have taken place since then, however, have failed to implement the provisions of the law of ratification, not taking the enactment of adaptation (in spite of the subsequent renewals of the delegation in 2003 and 2007);
Article 5 of the Oviedo Convention provides that an intervention the field of health can not be done until after the person has made a free consent, informed and, at any time withdraw the proposed treatment;
As expressed in the introduction as to the case of Eluana and, more generally , in terms of therapeutic exercise of the freedom guaranteed by our legal system is, even today, with the actual code of medical ethics (16 December 2006): "In any case, in the presence of documented refusal of a competent person who the physician should desist the resulting diagnostic instruments and / or healing, there can be no medical treatment against the wishes of the person. The doctor must take place, knowledge and belief, nei confronti del paziente incapace, nel rispetto della dignità della persona e della qualità della vita, evitando ogni accanimento terapeutico, tenendo conto delle precedenti volontà del paziente.” (Art. 35- Acquisizione del consenso); “Il medico, se il paziente non è in grado di esprimere la propria volontà, deve tenere conto nelle proprie scelte di quanto precedentemente manifestato dallo stesso in modo certo e documentato” (art. 38- Autonomia del cittadino e direttive anticipate)impegna il Governo a completare la procedura di ratifica della Convenzione di Oviedo e a compiere gli atti necessari per dare ad essa una “piena ed intera esecuzione”, secondo quanto previsto dall’articolo 2, comma 1 of Law March 28, 2001, No 145, also providing the necessary rules for the adaptation of the Italian legal principles and rules of the Convention;
To promote wide-ranging parliamentary debate on the so-called "living wills", based on a proposal that the directions, largely converged, the number of bills submitted in the past and the present term, to define the conditions and terms of exercising the freedom of treatment by patients who are in a state of unconsciousness.
to exercise the legislative initiative on these issues, taking care not to doubt or contradict the principles of the that, from the constitutional provisions, the legitimacy of the therapeutic relationship based on the principle of consent and the sacredness of life and the desire of patients.
