This archive report was first published on 28 September 2019.
On September 25, 2019, Italy's constitutional court made a landmark ruling, stating that assisted suicide could be lawful in certain circumstances.
Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte weighed in on the issue, expressing his doubts about the right to die, despite the court's decision.
"To choose to be taken towards death and to ask help from personnel for that, who must be specialised -- there some doubt is permitted," Conte said in an interview.
He emphasized the need for specialized personnel and the recognition of conscientious objection for those who may not feel capable of participating in the process.
The court's ruling specified that assisted suicide could only concern patients with incurable conditions who were being kept alive artificially and whose physical and psychological suffering was unbearable.
Additionally, patients would have to be fully capable of taking such a decision freely and consciously, the court added.
The Italian government currently forbids euthanasia, with laws punishing instigating or assisting suicide with up to 12 years in prison.
