Granted a man in Italy the right to euthanasia

A critically ill patient in Italy has been granted the right to euthanasia with a lethal injection for the first time in Italy.

The Ethics Committee of Ancona, in the Marche region, granted the right to a man who was paralyzed in the lower neck 10 years ago due to a traffic accident.

"I feel lighter and have freed myself from all the stress of the past few years," the 43-year-old patient, who gave his name as Mario, said in a statement on Tuesday.

Luca Cocconi, a pro-euthanasia association that helps the man in his legal battle, announced the ethics committee's decision.

This came after more than a year of studying the case.

Details of when the deadly drug will be given to the man, a former truck driver, are not yet clear.

In Italy, passive and active euthanasia, that is, death by stopping treatment, or death by a lethal drug, respectively, is prohibited.

However, in 2019 the Constitutional Court ruled that exceptions could exist in some cases.

For example, the patient must be rendered irreversible, dependent on life-sustaining measures, and in unbearable pain, both physically and psychologically, but must be fully able to make decisions of his own free will and understand their consequences.

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