Judge orders Asl to provide device for assisted suicide
Libera the multiple sclerosis sufferer's appeal granted, the local health authority must provide the device for self-administration within 15 days
The Florence Tribunal has accepted the requests of 'Libera' - a fictitious name to protect her privacy - the 55-year-old Tuscan woman suffering from primary progressive multiple sclerosis, to have access to assisted suicide. The judges have therefore ordered the local health authority to provide within 15 days the device for self-administration, verifying its functionality and compatibility, through an infusion pump activated by a command sensor or eye pointer or other suitable modality, as well as to make the drugs and devices available to the doctor of trust of 'Libera', who will assist her during the procedure.
Consulta rulings
The court's fourth civil section (Judge Umberto Castagnini) moved in the wake of the Constitutional Court's rulings (No. 242/2019 and No. 132/2025), emphasising that the National Health Service has an obligation to procure and supply 'promptly' the devices necessary to guarantee the exercise of the right, in compliance with the principles of dignity, freedom of choice and non-discrimination between patients.
The intolerable suffering
The Court emphasised the urgency of the measure, which had already been highlighted by the woman's defence, setting a peremptory deadline of 15 days 'in view of the patient's clinical condition and the situation of intolerable suffering', and recognised Libera's full right to therapeutic self-determination, stating that it is up to the National Health Service to ensure the concrete possibility of exercising it, removing the material and bureaucratic obstacles that prevent its implementation. And for Libera, who had been recognised as having the requirements for assisted suicide, set by the Constitutional Court, the obstacle, now overcome, was the absence of a device that would allow him to take the lethal drug independently.
L'associazione Luca Coscioni che assiste “Libera”, con l'avvocato Filomena Gallo ha precisato che “solo il 14 ottobre Estar, l'Ente di supporto tecnico-amministrativo regionale, tramite l'Usl, ha comunicato di aver concluso un'indagine di mercato tra imprese operanti nel settore degli ausili tecnici per persone con disabilità. Da tale indagine è emersa la disponibilità di una ditta a fornire un comunicatore con puntamento oculare in grado di attivare pompe infusionali. Estar ha precisato che “sono attualmente in corso gli approfondimenti tecnici e giuridici” per verificare la conformità del prodotto alla normativa nazionale e regionale in materia di dispositivi medici”. L'Azienda sanitaria, rappresentata dall'avvocato Luca Cei, ha manifestato massima disponibilità. “Mentre l'Avvocatura dello Stato, in rappresentanza del ministero della Salute - spiega l'associazione Luca Coscioni - ha evidenziato anche tramite “note di udienza” che la competenza operativa in materia spetta al Servizio s
The onset of the disease in 2007
Libera's ordeal began in 2007, with the onset of primary progressive multiple sclerosis, a condition that has led her to her current complete spastic tetraparesis, which has permanently compromised the use of all four limbs. Today, 'Libera' is completely immobile, unable to walk as well as to carry out any daily activities without the help of a third person, and is also taking extensive antalgic therapy.
