End-of-life care: Umbria passes a law in memory of Laura Santi. Here’s what it entails

Umbria, too – following Tuscany, Sardinia, Emilia-Romagna and Veneto – now has its own law on end-of-life care. Yesterday, the Legislative Assembly approved – with 11 votes in favour from councillors of the centre-left majority, six against and three abstentions – the citizens’ initiative bill on assisted suicide, entitled ‘Liberi subito’, in memory of Laura Santi, the journalist at the forefront of the campaign for the law’s approval, who suffered from multiple sclerosis and died after taking medication on 21 July 2025 at her home in Perugia. Her figure and example permeated the entire debate, including personal recollections from some councillors and moments of deep emotion.

In attendance at the meeting were her husband, Stefano Massoli, along with a group of activists from the Luca Coscioni Association and Marco Cappato (“The Italian government and Parliament are completely paralysed and are burying their heads in the sand,” he said). “This is Laura Santi’s law,” emphasised the sole rapporteur, Fabrizio Ricci (AVS), “who left us with these words: ‘Every life remains worth living even in the most extreme circumstances, but it is up to us to choose’.”

The President of the Region, Stefania Proietti, did not take part in the vote. “The issue,” she explained, “is of such significance that I believe it should be dealt with at the highest political level available to us, which is Parliament, not least to ensure consistency.” “My decision not to take part,” said Proietti, “should be seen as a hope: I hope that the spirit of respect we have felt following Laura’s case – which I followed out of institutional duty in my capacity as Health Councillor – will continue into the future.”

“Today in Umbria,” emphasised the region’s vice-president, Tommaso Bori, “we are achieving a victory for civilisation, freedom and dignity.” At the heart of the discussion was the related issue of palliative care, “a genuine priority” according to several councillors. And for Bianca Maria Tagliaferri (Ud-Pp), “the health service should provide care rather than merely accompany people to their death”.

The text, as amended by the Third Committee, provides that the Region shall lay down the organisational procedures governing access to the process of medically assisted voluntary death through the self-administration of a lethal drug. Each local health authority must establish a permanent multidisciplinary committee to verify that the requirements for access to medically assisted voluntary death are met. The bill was backed by 4,801 signatures. In her latest video, Laura Santi had stated: ‘They say it’s a divisive issue, but in reality it isn’t.’ Today, her native Umbria has listened to her, in that ‘atmosphere of respect for human dignity, the Constitution, life and the individual, which was palpable in the Chamber’, as President Proietti emphasised: “On an issue of absolute ethical importance such as that of life, this was an important signal for me.”