Eluana Englaro
Hospital Refuses to Remove Eluana Englaro's Feeding Tube After Court Ruling
Rome, Italy (LifeNews.com) -- The hospital where Eluana Englaro had received medical care and treatment before an Italian court ruled that her father could take her life refuses to pull her feeding tube. No doctor and none of the staff at the hospital in Lecco have agreed to kill the woman who is considered Italy's version of Terri Schiavo. Last week, the highest court in Italy granted her father the right to kill her via euthanasia by removing her feeding tube. Englaro has been in what doctors term a so-called vegetative state following a car accident and has received food and water via a feeding tube. However, the Italian nuns at the Blessed Luigi Talamoni clinic who are caring for her refuse to comply with the court ruling. They are getting support from Roberto Formigoni, President of the Lombardy region, who, according to the London Times, has said any doctor who kills a patient by removing the feeding tube would face disciplinary action for "failing to honor commitments to the well-being of their patients." Medical officials from northern regions such as Piedmont and Friuli, where Englaro's family is from, are also refusing to take her life.
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Eluana Englaro Will Face Total Starvation Death, Italy Government Races to Help
Rome, Italy (LifeNews.com) -- Eluana Englaro, the disabled woman who faces a potential starvation and dehydration-based euthanasia death in the same way as Terri Schiavo, has now been partially deprived of nutrition for three days. The staff at a medical center where she was recently transferred began depriving her of food and water Friday. Englaro's neurologist, Carlo Alberto Defanti, said on Sunday that she is in "stable" condition and that the minimal amount of food and water Englaro currently receives will soon be revoked entirely. Meanwhile, some members of the Italian government are working overtime to try to get an emergency order approved that would save her life. As LifeNews.com previously reported, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi had hoped to get an emergency decree approved to save Englaro's life. With support from the Catholic Church, Berlusconi and the cabinet approved an order on Friday saying food and water can't be suspended from patients like Englaro who are not self-sufficient. However, President Giorgio Napolitano refused to sign the order because he said it would overturn the decision of the court that allowed Englaro's father legal permission to remove her feeding tube and take her life. Now, Berlusconi is hoping to convene a special session of the Italian Parliament, where Berlusconi has a large majority of support, to approve the decree early this coming week and save Englaro's life before the deprivation of food and water causes her major medical problems. Ref. Source 7