Lo sconfinamento della Corte costituzionale: dal caso limite della rinuncia a trattamenti salva-vita alla eccezionale non punibilità del suicidio medicalmente assistito

The author comments on the sentence of the Constitutional Court n. 242 of 2019 which provided for a circumscribed exception to the criminal prohibition of medical assistance for suicide. First of all, the fact is noted that the distinction between letting die accompanying the person and killing, which represented the balance point by the law 219/2017, is broken even though exceptionally by the court's decision. The assessment of the Court, in fact, borders on the extreme case of withdrawal of life-saving treatments to create an island of non-criminal punishment in cases of persons subjected to life-saving treatments who prefer the administration of a lethal drug to deep palliative sedation.The author then examines implications of the judgement on the patient doctor relationship. In particular, emphasis is placed on the reflexes concerning medical ethics protected by law 219/2017 and instead not considered by the Constitutional Court. Finally, the re-thinking of the Constitutional Court on human dignity is noted, which unexpectedly in the previous order n. 207 of 2018 had been subjectivized in several places.