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Italian in euthanasia fight dies Doctor 'helps Italian man to die'
(about 3 hours later)
A terminally ill Italian man who had been fighting in the courts for the right to have his life support machine turned off has died suddenly. An Italian doctor has said he has switched off the life support system of a terminally ill man, who lost a legal battle for the right to die.
It was not immediately clear what caused Piergiorgio Welby's death. Dr Mario Riccio, who disconnected the respirator, said he had fulfilled the patient's legal right to refuse treatment. He denied it was euthanasia.
The landmark case of Mr Welby, 60, sparked fierce debate in Italy, a mainly Roman Catholic country where euthanasia is illegal. Piergiorgio Welby, 60, was paralysed by muscular dystrophy.
Mr Welby was confined to bed, fed through a tube and communicated through a computer that read his eye movements. His plea for euthanasia - illegal in mainly Roman Catholic Italy - sparked a landmark court case and fierce debate.
A judge rejected his request to have doctors turn off his life support machine. Doctor's argument
The judge ruled on Saturday that while Mr Welby had the constitutional right to have his life support machine switched off, doctors would be legally obliged to resuscitate him. "In Italian hospitals therapies are suspended all the time, and this does not lead to any intervention from magistrates or to problems of conscience," Dr Riccio told reporters.
"This must not be mistaken for euthanasia. It is a suspension of therapies," he told a news conference in Rome. "Refusing treatment is a right."
Mr Welby had been attached to a respirator and feeding tube to keep him alive.
He had communicated through a computer that read his eye movements.
A judge ruled on Saturday that while Mr Welby had the constitutional right to have his life support machine switched off, doctors would be legally obliged to resuscitate him.
Mr Welby had suffered for many years from muscular dystrophy and his condition had worsened in recent months.Mr Welby had suffered for many years from muscular dystrophy and his condition had worsened in recent months.
Euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide have been legalised in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, but remain illegal in much of the rest of the world.Euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide have been legalised in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, but remain illegal in much of the rest of the world.