The investigating judge of Bologna refers to the Constitutional Court the rule on assisted suicide. The requirement of vital support treatment would create serious discrimination.
The delicate and complex question of end In Italy he returns overwhelmingly to the examination of the Constitutional Court. A new chapter in the battle for therapeutic self -determination opens in Bologna, where the judge for preliminary investigations has decided to suspend a procedure and consult the judges of the laws again. At the center of the debate is one of the pillars of the sentence that opened in 2019, albeit with very rigid stakes, to the practice of assisted suicide: the requirement of Vital support treatment. A condition that, according to the Bolognese magistrate, risks turning into an insurmountable and discriminatory barrier for those who, while living atrocious sufferings, do not depend on a machine or therapy to survive. The story, which sees once again the protagonist Marco Cappatorekindles the spotlight on a legislative void and on the need to clearly define the boundaries of the right to choose how and when to end one’s existence.
The case of Paola and the investigation in Bologna
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To trigger the new remittance at the Consulta is the story of Mrs. Paola, an 89 -year -old old woman suffering from an advanced and irreversible form of parkinsonism. A pathology that, as a certificate, caused them intolerable suffering and daily. In 2023, fully lucid and aware of her hopeless condition, Paola had chosen to go to Switzerland to access medically assisted suicide. To accompany it on this last trip were Marco CappatoFelicetta Maltese and Virginia Fiume, now investigated for the crime of help to suicide, as required by theArticle 580 of the Criminal Code.
The nodal point of the case lies precisely in the clinical condition of the woman: despite being his pathology irreversible and a source of unbearable pain, Paola was not dependent on any Vital support treatment. This means that it could not have obtained medical help in Italy, not returning to all the requirements set by sentence 242/2019 of Constitutional Courtnor could he have achieved his purpose through the simple interruption of care. His only way out, according to his will, was the medical help that died.
The heart of doubt: the discrimination of “vital support”
With an order filed on 29 September 2025, the investigating judge of Bologna put his doubts of constitutional legitimacy black and white, raising a matter of profound ethical and legal relevance. The judge highlighted how the requirement of Vital support treatment Create a clear and unjustified and unjustified discrimination. In fact, it divides the sick into two categories: on the one hand, those who, being attached to a medical garrison, can legitimately ask and obtain help to die in Italy; on the other, who, while paying in conditions of equally serious and irreversible suffering, cannot do it only because his pathology does not require that type of support.
In the reasons it is clear that this requirement “does not contribute in any way to measure the ability to understand and want, the freedom and autonomy of choice or the physical or psychological suffering of the sick subjects”. It is defined as “irrelevant” for the purpose of demonstrating the severity of the pathology. In essence, the judge believes that this stake violates the principles of equality, personal freedom and the right to private life, sanctioned by the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The voices of the protagonists: “unreasonable requirement”
The investigating judge’s decision was welcomed by the Luca Coscioni association, always on the front line on these issues. The lawyer Filomena Gallo, defender of Marco Cappato And coordinator of the legal college, he underlined how the judiciary is increasingly recognizing the unreasonableness of this requirement. “The investigating judge of Bologna confirmed what other judges have already highlighted: the requirement of vital support has no reasonableness,” he said, adding that it is precisely the stories of people who push the courts to recognize how this criterion is “arbitrary and harmful of the fundamental rights“.
On the same line Marco CappatoPresident of the Civil Rescue Association, who pointed the finger at the immobility of the Parliamentsoliciting direct intervention by the Court. “It’s time for the Constitutional Court Recognize to all people, without arbitrary exclusions, the right to choose how to end their sufferings, “he said.
Procedure suspended, the word passes to the court
With the remission of the documents to the Consulta, the criminal proceeding against Cappato, Maltese and Fiume was suspended. Now the ball passes into the hands of the constitutional judges, once again called to pronounce on the legitimacy of theArticle 580 of the Criminal Codein the part in which, through the restrictive interpretation of the 2019 sentence, it binds the possibility of accessing the assisted suicide to addiction to Vital support treatments. The decision that will be taken will have a huge impact, being able to remove one of the main obstacles that today prevent many sick from fully exercising their right toself -determination in the end of life.
