Fabio Ridolfi chooses deep sedation: “State doesn’t help me die”

Fabio Ridolfi, the 46-year-old from Fermignano (Pesaro-Urbino) immobilized in bed for 18 years due to a tetraparesis, chose to die undergoing deep sedation, “following the lack of response from the Marche Regional Health Service which, after having communicated the opinion of the Ethics Committee 40 days late with the green light for medical aid for voluntary death, he never indicated an opinion on the drug and its methods of administration “, informs the Luca Coscioni Association. Fabio has communicated his decision in a new video in which, through the eye pointer that allows him to communicate, he explains that “for 2 months my suffering has been recognized as unbearable. I have all the conditions to be helped to die, but State ignores me. At this point I choose deep and continuous sedation, even if it prolongs the agony for those who love me “. On May 27 – the Coscioni Association recalls in a note – the man had also formally warned Asur (the only regional health company) Marche to carry out checks on the drug in a short time. A warning to which, however, the Asur, to date, has never responded. And once the terms have elapsed – it says – Fabio’s lawyers could legitimately have proceeded with a criminal action against those responsible for the non-fulfillment due to the omission of official acts. “Fabio had a right, that of being able to choose medical help to voluntary death, legally exercisable on the basis of the sentence 242 of the Constitutional Court (Cappato Dj Fabio). by the constitutional judgment, and recognizing that his sufferings are unbearable, prevents him from saying enough “, declared Filomena Gallo, national secretary of the Luca Coscioni Association, lawyer and coordinator of Fabio’s defense board, and Marco Cappato, treasurer of the Coscioni Association . “Fabio – add Gallo and Cappato – deserves respect and not to be ignored by a State that cruelly forces him to suffer continuous and not guarantees the choice of him legally enforceable. Every day that passes for Fabio is one more day of suffering, which is why he has decided not to wait any longer and to proceed with deep sedation and with the suspension of life support treatments. He has been waiting for over 2 months and Asur continues to ignore his request, after having kept an opinion in a drawer for 40 days that stated the presence of the requisites for legally accessing assisted suicide “.” We cannot fail to notice – the leaders of the Coscioni Association underline – even the absolute silence of national politics, committed to the cover-up in the Senate of the law on aid for suicide, after the Constitutional Court prevented the people from expressing their opinion on the referendum “. The favorable opinion of the Ethics Committee on the existence of the conditions necessary to proceed with medical aid to voluntary death, incomplete because it lacks the indication of the drug and the methods of administration – it is recalled in the note – had arrived the day after a public appeal by Fabio Ridolfi and after being blocked for 40 days by Asur Marche.