Kept artificially alive 17 years, Italian woman sent to clinic to die

[BurtWorm]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7867197.stm


Eluana Englaro, in an undated image released by her family
Ms Englaro is said to have opposed being kept alive artificially

A woman at the centre of the right-to-die debate in Italy has been moved to a clinic where she will be allowed to die after 17 years in a vegetative state.

Eluana Englaro was transferred by ambulance overnight to the private facility in the northern city of Udine.

The Vatican and anti-euthanasia groups have strongly opposed the move.

In November, Italy's highest court ruled Ms Englaro's feeding tubes could be withdrawn, but the health ministry then warned state clinics not to do it.

On Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI added his voice to the debate about euthanasia, calling it a "false solution" to the tragedy of suffering.

"The true response cannot be to give death, even if it is seemingly more soothing, but to show the love that can help people face pain and agony in a human way," he said in his weekly address.

But the pope did not mention Ms Englaro, 37, who has been in a permanent vegetative state since a car crash in 1992.

Her father, Beppino, has been battling with the courts in Italy to let her die since 1999, insisting it was her wish.

...

[NV Whino]

1. Where's Bill Frist when you need him?

Seriously, this sort of nonsense has to stop. 17 years!

[get the red out]

2. Justice beat the Pope

and his agenda of misery, that's good.

[Karenina]

3. . .

[applegrove]

4. Very sad.

[ima_sinnic]

5. will JOATH* be towed to Italy now? along with the jugglers?

*Jesus on a Trailer Hitch®