Tuscany has become the first region in Italy to pass a law regulating the procedure of assisted suicide. The regional parliament approved the law on February 11 with a majority vote of 27 in favor and 13 against.
The law establishes guidelines for reviewing requests: a medical commission must make a decision within 30 days, and the Tuscan health service must provide the necessary medication and personnel within 10 days, unless the patient prefers their own doctor to perform the procedure. Doctors also have the right to refuse participation on ethical grounds.
In Italy, healthcare is regulated at the regional level. Tuscany is governed by left-center parties, while the national government led by Giorgia Meloni opposes such initiatives.
In 2019, Italy’s Constitutional Court decriminalized assisted suicide for patients suffering from incurable illnesses that cause unbearable pain and who express a clear desire to die. However, no law has been passed yet to regulate the procedure in detail. Assisted suicide is allowed in only a few European countries and differs from euthanasia, which may be applied even without a terminal diagnosis.
