Reconsidering dependence on life-sustaining treatment as a criterion for assisted suicide
The Italian legal unicum in comparative perspective
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22077238 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Marco Albore (0000-0003-3072-4459, Sapienza University of Rome, corresponding author), Letizia Sorace (Sapienza University of Rome), S Del Prete (0009-0006-4585-7683, Sapienza University of Rome), Raffaele La Russa (0000-0003-3433-7122, University of L'Aquila), Gianpietro Volonnino (0000-0002-3178-0797, Sapienza University of Rome), Paola Frati (0000-0002-0358-7965, Sapienza University of Rome), Giorgio Bolino (0000-0003-4198-5662, Sapienza University of Rome) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Pages | 1657070-1657070 |
| Publication date | 2025-09-19 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Frontiers in Public Health (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2296-2565 • E-ISSN: 2296-2565 |
| Publisher | Frontiers Media SA (PUBLISHER • CH) |
| DOI | 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1657070 |
| PMID | 41048285 |
| OpenAlex | W4414366127 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 50 |
The legalization of Medical Assisted Voluntary Death, including assisted suicide is spreading worldwide, alongside the recognition of the centrality of the patient’s right to self-determination even in case of therapeutic desistance. In Italy Law-no. 219/2017 has granted patients the option of refusing therapy including life-sustaining treatments even without justification. The present paper offers a critical analysis of the legal-normative aspects and ethical-clinical implications of constraining assisted suicide to dependence on life-sustaining treatments. Reviewing some of the key bioethical-legal pronouncements, we discuss the current Italian system on assisted suicide in which dependence on life-sustaining treatment, even after the recent Constitutional sentences, is still one of the mandatory requirements, despite several critical profiles. Through a literature overview on medical life-sustaining treatments notion, the dependence on them is analyzed and assessed in clinical, bioethical and validity terms as a requirement for access to assisted suicide. From this it appears how dependence on life-sustaining treatment constraint shows overly ambiguous definitional boundaries, with the risk of inhomogeneous interpretations especially in the Italian framework. Interestingly, our comparative analysis reveals that Italy is a global legal unicum among the main international systems regulating Medical Assisted Voluntary Death; which, conversely, tend to target the issue on terminally or irreversibly suffering patients, independently of dependence on life-sustaining treatment
Bioethics · Centrality · Legalization · Medical ethics · Ethics in medical practice · Palliative Care and End-of-Life Issues · Patient Dignity and Privacy
Attitudes and Practices of Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide in the United States, Canada, and Europe
European Countries' Different Legal Orientation About End-of-Life Issues in Patients Affected With Neurological/Psychiatric Diseases
Italian Legal Euthanasia
Legal Euthanasia in Belgium
Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide in Selected European Countries and US States
| Highly cited | No |
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