ITALY:An Italian doctor says he switched off the life-support system of a terminally ill man to end a life he described as "torture", after a legal battle for the muscular dystrophy sufferer's right to die failed.
Anaesthetist Dr Mario Riccio denied it was illegal euthanasia and witnesses said Piergiorgio Welby (60), who was paralysed but still lucid, said "thank you" three times to his friends and supporters before slipping away on Wednesday evening.
Dr Riccio could face 10 to 15 years in jail since euthanasia is illegal in predominantly Catholic Italy and is banned by the Vatican. One politician asked for his arrest for murder and, while Mr Welby's death ended his suffering, it looked likely to fan an already impassioned debate over euthanasia. Luca Volonte, head of the Union of Christian Democrats in the lower house of parliament, urged "the judicial authorities to arrest the man responsible for this homicide".
Dr Riccio travelled to Rome from Cremona to end a life that Mr Welby had described as "unbearable torture" after other doctors refused. He denied he had broken the law.
"Welby's case was not one of euthanasia. It is about refusing treatment," Dr Riccio told a news conference.
At Mr Welby's home, in the presence of his wife, family and friends, Dr Riccio administered an intravenous cocktail of sedatives and removed the respirator keeping him alive.
The process took 40 minutes and he was pronounced dead at 11.30pm, Dr Riccio said.
One politician who was in the room said Mr Welby's last words to him were "Thank you, thank you, thank you". His sister Carla chided Italy for keeping her brother alive against his will.
Mr Welby's supporters said the constitution gave patients the right to refuse medical treatment. Marco Cappato, a left-wing politician and pro-euthanasia campaigner, said: "Mr Welby got what he had been asking for for 88 days, in full respect of his rights, the law and the constitution."
Speaking via a computer that interpreted his eye movements, Mr Welby had appeared on television news and wrote to the president asking for "peace for my tortured and shattered body".