Italy court rules against ill man asking to die

ROME, Dec 16 (Reuters) An Italian court today ruled against a request by a paralysed, terminally ill man who wants to be taken off life support in a case that has split the predominantly Catholic country, where euthanasia is illegal.

The pale, listless face of Piergiorgio Welby, 60, who suffers from advanced muscular dystrophy and is confined to bed but is lucid, has become one of the most recognised in Italy.

Welby, who speaks via a computer that interprets his eye movements, has appeared on news programmes and written to Italy's president asking to be taken off the respirator that keeps him alive so he can ''find peace for my tortured and shattered body''.

But a Rome court examining his case dismissed his request.

In a 15-page verdict underscoring the legal complexity of the case, the court said that while Welby had a right to have the respirator removed, that right was not ''concretely safeguarded'' by Italian law.

Only political and legislative initiatives could fill the legal void and ''provide answers to the loneliness and despair of the patients'', the court said.

Euthanasia supporters, who will stage pro-Welby vigils in 50 Italian cities later today, attacked the verdict, while opponents hailed it. Welby can appeal the ruling.

''We're determined to support his plea to stop the torture he is suffering,'' said Marco Cappato of the Rose in the Fist party, which is part of Romano Prodi's centre-left government.

Rocco Buttiglione, a devout Catholic and a member of the centre-right opposition, said the court had made the right decision.

''No one can order to kill,'' he said.

''ALIVE AGAINST HIS WISHES'' Welby's lawyers argue that doctors, by their own code of ethics, have no right to keep him alive against his wishes and that doing so amounts to what is known in Italy as ''accanimento terapeutico'' -- forcefully administering life-sustaining treatment that does not improve the patient's condition.

They based their appeal on an article of Italy's constitution stating that no one can be forced to accept a specific medical treatment.

Doctors across Italy have said they are ready to help Welby die.

Welby's own doctor, however, says that if he removed the respirator, he would then be obliged to ressuscitate him.

The case has divided Prodi's coalition, which ranges from Catholic moderates to communists, and sparked accusations by the centre right that the government wants to legalise euthanasia.

Doctors who perform euthanasia in Italy can face prison terms of up to 15 years. The Roman Catholic Church forbids it.

However, the church's Catechism says medical procedures that are ''burdensome, dangerous, extraordinary or disproportionate to the expected outcome'' can be discontinued with the permission of the patient or family.

Euthanasia supporters say the will of the patient is key.

Only Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium and the US state of Oregon permit assisted suicide for the terminally ill.

Reuters MS VV1932