European Countries' Different Legal Orientation About End-of-Life Issues in Patients Affected With Neurological/Psychiatric Diseases: Does Italian Law n.219/2017 Provide Adequate Options for This Fragile Category of Patients?

In the last 20 years, the international panorama has been affected by several legislative openings regarding the “end of life.” This sensitive and delicate issue, in fact, has played a pivotal role in the ethical–legal debate for many years, leading to law promulgation in many countries of the European Union. Following the example of many progressive countries, Italy has recently promulgated a law addressing this topic. More specifically, law 219/2017 focuses on fundamental aspects of patients' will, from informed consent to refusal of treatment and advanced treatment provisions, with particular reference to incapable patients (1). In Italy, at present, law 219 supports incapacitated patients with various figures according to the severity of illness. On the other hand, with regard to assisted suicide, the Italian Constitutional Court requires full capacity of the person, precluding this possibility to incapable patients.