Eluano Englaro Dies

Posted by Tom McFeely

Monday, February 09, 2009 4:12 PM

(CNS/Reuters)

Eluana Englaro has died, three days after she began to be deprived of nourishment.

Last week, the comatose 37-year-old Italian woman was taken by her father Beppino from a hospital in Lecco, Italy, where Eluana was receiving care from Sisters of Mercy. She had been in a coma since 1992 as a result of injuries she sustained in a car accident.

Her father acted without legal authorization, in order to place Eluana in a medical clinic in Udine that was willing to kill her by depriving her of the food and hydration she required through a feeding tube in order to stay alive.

After her father moved her, Italy’s right-of-center government led by Italian Prime Minister Sylvio Berlusconi introduced a bill to prohibit the withdrawal of food and water from comatose patients. But Eluana died today before the legislation could be voted on in the Italian Senate, Associated Press reported.

The news of Eluana’s death provoked outrage from Senators who supported the bill that would have restored her feeding tube, Time magazine reported:

“When news of the death reached the Senate floor, there was a moment of silence before several Berlusconi allies began shouting: ‘Assassins!’ Another center-right Senator, Gaetano Quagliariello, declared: ‘Eluana didn’t die, she was killed.’”

Filed under eluana englaro, euthanasia, italy