Ailing Italian writer Daniele Pieroni has become the first person to legally end his life under a fast-tracked assisted suicide law recently enacted in Tuscany, pro-euthanasia advocates confirmed on Wednesday.
Pieroni, who had battled Parkinson’s disease since 2008, died at his home on May 17 after receiving approval under Tuscany’s streamlined legislation, according to a statement from the Luca Coscioni Association, which campaigns for the right to die with dignity.
The new regional law, passed three months ago, made Tuscany the first of Italy’s 20 regions to create a clear and expedited path for patients seeking medically assisted suicide. While Italy’s Constitutional Court ruled in 2019 that assisted suicide could be permitted under strict conditions, the national parliament has yet to formalize this in legislation—making such procedures rare and bureaucratically challenging.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing coalition, which opposes euthanasia, is currently contesting the Tuscan law in court. However, any ruling will come too late to affect Pieroni’s case.
Born in 1961, Pieroni was dependent on a feeding tube for 21 hours a day, the Luca Coscioni Association said. “The lethal drug was prepared at his home, which Daniele self-administered in the presence of doctors and his family,” the statement explained.
The association used Pieroni’s death to renew its call for broader access to assisted dying across the country. “Too many people continue to suffer or emigrate to die with dignity,” it said. “We invite all regions to act to guarantee freedom and respect for people’s wishes.”
Assisting someone in suicide remains technically illegal under Italian law, punishable by five to twelve years in prison. However, the 2019 Constitutional Court decision allows exceptions for patients enduring incurable illnesses causing “intolerable” physical or psychological suffering, provided they are kept alive by medical support and capable of making “free and informed decisions.”
Since that landmark ruling, eight individuals have legally undergone medically assisted suicide in Italy, the association told AFP. The first was 44-year-old tetraplegic Federico Carboni, who died in the Marche region in June 2022.
AFP
