Eluana Englaro finally was laid to rest

The woman who has been in vegetative state for 17 years died last Monday. Elena Englaro died even while her case was being debated in the Italian Parliament. When the speaker of the Italian Senate announced the death, a moment of silence was offered for her in the chamber.

Although when the silence ended, a legislator said that “she has not died… she was killed!”

Englaro has been the subject of a heated debate on Euthanasia because her father, Beppino, has been fighting for the government to let her daughter die. Euthanasia is not legal in Italy.

After a car accident in 1992, Englaro has suffered an irreversible brain damage, she has been comatose since then and was only surviving because of a tube that provides nourishment for her body. And this has been the subject of Englaro’s battle, to have her feeding tube removed.

He said this would give her daughter a more dignified end to her life. Before the accident, he said she visited a friend who was in coma and told him that she didn’t want to be in the same state if such would happen to her.

His request was finally granted after 17 years, when Italy’s highest court allowed Beppino to suspend his daughter’s treatment and have the feeding tube removed.

The court decision has caused an uproar, protests and debates in the country, Italy being a Catholic country where the Vatican has great influence. Pope Benedict XVI told pilgrims earlier this month that “euthanasia is a false solution to suffering.”

“Everybody has a right to live” has been the cause of the people who are opposing the court order.

Debates on her case would likely to continue, in spite of Englaro’s death as it would effect the plight of patients in the future.

In the meantime, Englaro is finally at rest and her 17 years of sufferings is finally over. Let’s us all just pray for her soul.