But here’s a big part of the story that has been missed that I hope will be emulated by health care professionals in American’s hospitals, nursing homes, and hospices: Italian medical professionals in Italy refused to participate in Eluana’s death by dehydration.
Subsequent to the July ruling, the nuns who were in charge of caring for Eluana refused to comply with the court order to starve and dehydrate her to death. Moreover, Roberto Formigoni, President of the Lombardy region where Eluana was being cared for, warned that doctors removing her food and hydration would face disciplinary action for "failing to honor commitments to the well-being of their patients."
This was followed by Italy’s Minister of Labour, Health and Social Policies, coming to Eluana’s aid issuing a caveat that it was ‘illegal’ for health care facilities funded by the government to remove food and hydration with the intention of killing a patient. Shortly thereafter, an open letter by 700 Italian physicians was made public asking that Eluana’s life be spared.
Sadly however, despite this outcry, it appears that Eluana is going to be killed by starvation and dehydration. What awaits her as this gruesome process plays out can only be described as horrifying.
Just last week, Pope Benedict reminded us that the act of euthanasia is not the answer to how we care for persons in conditions like Eluana and Terri, stating that, “it is a solution unworthy of mankind.” (Of course, I’m sure you can imagine my family’s relief upon hearing the Pope’s comments after self-proclaimed moral authority Keith Olbermann—former sports reporter—recently declaring that Terri’s euthanasia death was legally and morally correct.)
Vatican officials have also weighed in on Eluana’s situation with Cardinal Barragan, president of the Pontifical Council for Health, stating that removing Eluana’s feeding tube was the “equivalent of an abominable act of murder.”
What happened to my sister during her slow and unimaginably horrible death by dehydration is something that no person should ever have to endure and no family should ever have to witness. That’s why these deaths by dehydration that are always done behind closed doors in the strictest secrecy. I wholeheartedly believe that if the public had been allowed to witness Terri’s suffering firsthand, the outcry would have deafened Florida and the world.