Italy prosecutors back plea by man asking to die

ROME, Dec 19 (Reuters) Prosecutors in Italy today lodged an appeal against a ruling that said a paralysed, terminally ill man cannot be taken off life support, reopening a legal battle that has split the predominantly Catholic country.

The case of 60-year-old Piergiorgio Welby, who suffers from advanced muscular dystrophy and is confined to bed but is lucid, has become a rallying cry for supporters of euthanasia, which is illegal in Italy.

Speaking via a computer that interprets his eye movements, Welby 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 judge on Saturday rejected that request, ruling that while Welby had a right to have the respirator removed, that right was not ''concretely safeguarded'' by Italian law.

Prosecutors, who under the Italian legal system are involved in most court cases even when they do not bring the prosecution themselves, said today the verdict was contradictory and should be overturned.

The Rome prosecutors cited the Italian Constitution, which states that no one can be forced to accept medical treatment.

They said doctors, by their own code of ethics, must limit themselves to spare terminally ill patients pointless suffering when their condition cannot be improved and death is inevitable.

In Welby's case, ''this is not about facilitating the patient's right to die, but about a conscious choice to avoid further, pointless suffering'', the text of the appeal said.

Euthanasia supporters, who had attacked Saturday's ruling, welcomed the appeal but said Welby was rapidly worsening.

''This is positive because his right to legally put an end to his suffering has been recognised. Unfortunately, the wheels of jsutice may turn too slowly for someone in Welby's situation,'' said Rocco Berardo from the pro-euthanasia Luca Coscioni association, of which Welby is also a member.

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 resuscitate him.

The case has divided Prime Minister Romano Prodi's coalition, which ranges from Catholic moderates to communists, and sparked accusations by the centre right opposition 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.

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

REUTERS SY PM2329