The Deepest Sleep.

In an Italian hospital a young woman lies in a bed. Her eyes are open, yet she is neither asleep nor awake. Her breathing is regular, yet it is far from normal. Nutrients are pumped into her system intravenously and she is constantly monitored by a myriad of machines which make almost soothing noises – a gentle reminder that this is not a tableau frozen in time.

She will, almost certainly, never leave hospital. She will never even rise up from her bed. She cannot and will not speak, she has no means of communication at all - which is probably a blessing for it is doubtful that she would have anything to explain.

This is how she is now, how she will be and how she has been for seventeen years.

The woman’s name is Eluana. In 1992 she was involved in a car crash that has left in a permanent vegative state. Twelve months before her accident a friend of Eluana’s was left brain damaged after a motorcycle accident and numerous sources claim that the then twenty-two year old said that if something similar were ever to happen to her then she would not want to live. She would rather die that rot away, strapped to a machine. She was emotional, of course, but not hysterical. She knew what she was committing herself to.

To switch off the mechanisms that tie Eluana, unwillingly, to this world would seem an act of humanity. Her friends certainly think so. Her father has spent years fighting for her to have that right and as, finally, judges have given doctors permission to slowly reduce the amount they feed her, the Pope pops up.

For Italy is a Catholic country and the church likes to have its say in all things. The Vatican has announced that to stop feeding Eluana would be a “monstrous and inhumane murder.” Silvio Berlusconi has helpfully waded in too commenting that she is still old enough to have children – which, frankly, sums him up really.

I don’t want to talk about euthanasia or assisted suicide because I don’t feel that this is what would be happening in these circumstances. Since the House of Lords allowed Hillsborough victim Tony Bland’s life support to be switched off in 1992, a distinction has been made in the UK between those suffering and those who would have passed along were it not for grace of medical science.

No, the question I would like to ask is, what right does the Vatican, the Catholic Church or the Pope have to interfere in a Father’s decision about the life of his daughter?

This is the problem I have with religion – well, aside from the tendency to hypocrisy, intolerance and killing anyone who doesn’t agree. I don’t take umbrage with faith. I can see how people take great comfort in religious faith and at times I desperately wish I had some. I sometimes think that if I truly believed existence was an act of divine will, then I may find it easier to rediscover who I’m supposed to be. So, I fully understand and support someone’s right to be believe and take solace in whatever they choose on a personal level, but I object strongly to a structured hierarchy that decides to get involved in things which, fundamentally, do not concern it.

It has taken twelve years for Eluana’s Father to get this far. It has been twelve years since he made what must have been the most difficult decision of his life and he must be beginning to feel as though there will never be a release for his daughter. Or himself.

Italy is a secular country in that its laws and government are not dictated by any religion. Whilst, I assume, Catholicism is the majority religion and I would happily bet that the number of people who regularly attend church of any denomination far outstrips the numbers in this country, it is not obligatory to be a Catholic.

Indeed, Eluana’s father does not appear to be religious at all – “if there is a God, I don’t need an intermediary such as the church to speak for me.” He has not asked the church for guidance, so why does it feel the need to proffer an opinion?

I’m reluctant to say that it is either because in a pompous, arrogant fashion it truly believes to know and understand the situation better than those involved, or because by making such ridiculous statements somewhere somebody agrees and considers joining, but they’re both, unfortunately, probably true.

I wish that the church and the politicians would just back off, would just shut up for once and let a parent finish grieving for his child. It’s been seventeen years since he started, now he just needs to lay Eluana to rest.

**********************

I wrote the above piece on Sunday afternoon. Double-checking a couple of things before releasing it on Tuesday night I realise that Eluana has, in fact, died. The Doctors who began with-holding her food on Friday originally thought she may live for a further two weeks. They may now still face prosecution.