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Italian doctors criminally investigated for refusing to kill patient
Doctors in Italy who refused a woman's request to be killed via assisted suicide are now under criminal investigation despite the fact that physician-assisted death is not officially legal in the country.
Italy has not legalized assisted suicide, but in 2019 the Constitutional Court de facto legalized it and urged parliament to pass a law regarding the framework. Parliament did not.
In 2023, actress Sibilla Barbieri asked to die by assisted suicide after battling cancer for 10 years.
Doctors refused to help her die, and now 10 health professionals are under criminal investigation for not helping her end her own life.
Barbieri died by assisted suicide in Switzerland in October of 2023.
Although prosecutors wanted to drop the case against the medical professionals following an investigation, Barbieri's family objected, and a judge refused to allow the case to be dropped.
Evidence will be presented to a judge on December 16.
Italy has not officially legalized assisted suicide, but the nation's constitutional court de facto legalized it in 2019 and urged parliament to pass a law detailing a legal framework for the procedure. It didn't.
It wasn't until 2025 that Tuscany became the first region in Italy to approve a so-called 'right-to-die' law. That law details requirements, including that a medical panel considers assisted death requests within 30 days. If all of the criteria are met, the patient must be given access to the drugs and doctors within 10 days unless the patient wants his own doctor to commit the act. Doctors, however, can refuse to participate under conscience objections.
In 2023, former actress Sibilla Barbieri asked doctors to help her die by assisted suicide, but was refused. The doctors who declined to participate are now under criminal investigation.
Barbieri accused them of "discrimination" and traveled to Switzerland, where she died by physician-assisted death on October 30, 2023.
In 2023, Barbieri had been living with cancer for a decade. Based on the 2019 Constitutional Court ruling, she requested assisted suicide.
The Board of Directors for the Local Health Authority (ASL Roma 1) denied her request, noting that she did not yet require "life-sustaining treatment," one of the requirements under the Constitutional Court ruling.
Barbieri's family filed a legal complaint against 10 health care professionals at ASL Roma 1, claiming they had denied her a constitutional right. That complaint led to a criminal investigation.
According to the Washington Stand, following the investigation, prosecutors wanted to drop the case, but the family objected, and Judge Marisa Mosetti would not dismiss it. She will hear evidence on December 16.
The medical professionals who refused to participate in Barbieri's intentional death on moral grounds are now being accused of criminal behavior for not killing a patient.
Writing for National Review, Wesley J. Smith offered potential reasons as to why Italy would want to force doctors to give their patients the tools to end their own lives. He noted that "Medicine is being deprofessionalized into a technocratic order-taking enterprise that exists in part to fulfill customer desires. Hippocratic ‘do no harm’ values have no place in such a system," and that “States aren’t going to establish killing centers. So doctors and nurse practitioners have to be conscripted to do the dirty deeds if the culture of death is to advance." He also claimed that, "Denying medical conscience seeks to impose a secularist hegemony over a vital sector of society," among other reasons.
Suicide is always a tragedy, but by legalizing assisted suicide, governments send the message that some people's lives are not worth living. It tells the sick, the dying, the chronically ill, and the disabled that they are better off dead and that suicide is good for them and only them.
Coercing doctors, who took an oath to heal, not harm, to participate in the intentional deaths of their patients under threat of criminal charges will turn exam rooms where vulnerable people turn for help into death chambers in which the vulnerable are herded to be killed off. And it could lead doctors with ethical standards to abandon their calling altogether.
Live Action News is pro-life news and commentary from a pro-life perspective.
Our work is possible because of our donors. Please consider giving to further our work of changing hearts and minds on issues of life and human dignity.
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·Italian doctors criminally investigated for refusing to kill patient
Doctors in Italy who refused a woman's request to be killed via assisted suicide are now under criminal investigation despite the fact that physician-assisted death is not officially legal in the country.
Italy has not legalized assisted suicide, but in 2019 the Constitutional Court de facto legalized it and urged parliament to pass a law regarding the framework. Parliament did not.
In 2023, actress Sibilla Barbieri asked to die by assisted suicide after battling cancer for 10 years.
Doctors refused to help her die, and now 10 health professionals are under criminal investigation for not helping her end her own life.
Barbieri died by assisted suicide in Switzerland in October of 2023.
Although prosecutors wanted to drop the case against the medical professionals following an investigation, Barbieri's family objected, and a judge refused to allow the case to be dropped.
Evidence will be presented to a judge on December 16.
Italy has not officially legalized assisted suicide, but the nation's constitutional court de facto legalized it in 2019 and urged parliament to pass a law detailing a legal framework for the procedure. It didn't.
It wasn't until 2025 that Tuscany became the first region in Italy to approve a so-called 'right-to-die' law. That law details requirements, including that a medical panel considers assisted death requests within 30 days. If all of the criteria are met, the patient must be given access to the drugs and doctors within 10 days unless the patient wants his own doctor to commit the act. Doctors, however, can refuse to participate under conscience objections.
In 2023, former actress Sibilla Barbieri asked doctors to help her die by assisted suicide, but was refused. The doctors who declined to participate are now under criminal investigation.
Barbieri accused them of "discrimination" and traveled to Switzerland, where she died by physician-assisted death on October 30, 2023.
In 2023, Barbieri had been living with cancer for a decade. Based on the 2019 Constitutional Court ruling, she requested assisted suicide.
The Board of Directors for the Local Health Authority (ASL Roma 1) denied her request, noting that she did not yet require "life-sustaining treatment," one of the requirements under the Constitutional Court ruling.
Barbieri's family filed a legal complaint against 10 health care professionals at ASL Roma 1, claiming they had denied her a constitutional right. That complaint led to a criminal investigation.
According to the Washington Stand, following the investigation, prosecutors wanted to drop the case, but the family objected, and Judge Marisa Mosetti would not dismiss it. She will hear evidence on December 16.
The medical professionals who refused to participate in Barbieri's intentional death on moral grounds are now being accused of criminal behavior for not killing a patient.
Writing for National Review, Wesley J. Smith offered potential reasons as to why Italy would want to force doctors to give their patients the tools to end their own lives. He noted that "Medicine is being deprofessionalized into a technocratic order-taking enterprise that exists in part to fulfill customer desires. Hippocratic ‘do no harm’ values have no place in such a system," and that “States aren’t going to establish killing centers. So doctors and nurse practitioners have to be conscripted to do the dirty deeds if the culture of death is to advance." He also claimed that, "Denying medical conscience seeks to impose a secularist hegemony over a vital sector of society," among other reasons.
Suicide is always a tragedy, but by legalizing assisted suicide, governments send the message that some people's lives are not worth living. It tells the sick, the dying, the chronically ill, and the disabled that they are better off dead and that suicide is good for them and only them.
Coercing doctors, who took an oath to heal, not harm, to participate in the intentional deaths of their patients under threat of criminal charges will turn exam rooms where vulnerable people turn for help into death chambers in which the vulnerable are herded to be killed off. And it could lead doctors with ethical standards to abandon their calling altogether.
Live Action News is pro-life news and commentary from a pro-life perspective.
Our work is possible because of our donors. Please consider giving to further our work of changing hearts and minds on issues of life and human dignity.
Contact editor@liveaction.org for questions, corrections, or if you are seeking permission to reprint any Live Action News content.
Guest Articles: To submit a guest article to Live Action News, email editor@liveaction.org with an attached Word document of 800-1000 words. Please also attach any photos relevant to your submission if applicable. If your submission is accepted for publication, you will be notified within three weeks. Guest articles are not compensated (see our Open License Agreement). Thank you for your interest in Live Action News!
Cassy Cooke
·Issues
Anne Marie Williams, RN, BSN
·Issues
Cassy Cooke
·Issues
Sheena Rodriguez
·Politics
Bernadette Pate
·Human Interest
Nancy Flanders
·Investigative
Nancy Flanders
·Human Interest
Nancy Flanders
·Pop Culture
Nancy Flanders
·Issues
Nancy Flanders
·Human Interest
Nancy Flanders
·