A balance between knowledge and conscience

A major turning point has come in the dispute over the euthanasia case of the Italian woman Eluana Englaro, who has been in a persistent vegetative state for 17 years. Italy's top court in Milan has ruled that her forced feeding and hydration may be suspended. The government, however, wants to prevent the euthanasia by decree. The left-liberal daily La Repubblica writes: "Those who take on the difficult task of assisting patients like Eluana who have no hope of recovery and cannot express their own will are plagued by tormenting doubts in applying the scientific aspects of medicine. … Precisely this is the difficult balancing act the doctor is called on to perform, who must act on his best knowledge and belief without disregarding the convictions and philosophy – which may not always tally with his own – of those he has before him. Fortunately in most cases it comes to a communion between doctors and patients or their relatives, an agreement about what is best for the patient. If this was not the case, if there was no genuine feeling of respect and mutual understanding, … then there would no longer be medicine, only technology."

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