Neurologist for Eluana Englaro Admits She is Healthy, Euthanasia Unnecessary
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 9, 2009
Rome, Italy (LifeNews.com) — The neurologist for Eluana Englaro, the disabled woman who has become the center of an international debate over whether she should be killed via euthanasia, says she is healthy. All of the medical tests conducted prior to Friday’s stoppage of food and water reveal a healthy patient.
Englaro was injured in an automobile accident in 1992 and has been in a minimally conscious state ever since. Her father recently won the legal right to kill her by removing her feeding tube.
Carlo Alberto Defanti, who is overseeing the withdrawal of food and water, made the comments in an interview with the Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera.
“She has never had any diseases and has no need for antibiotics," Defanti admitted. "[Englaro] does not have any damaged or injured internal organs. The tests performed at the hospital in Lecco, before her departure [to the center where she will be killed] were perfect.”
Defanti also mentioned that Englaro recovered from a mild medical problem last fall concerning some internal bleeding she had.
“She got better on her own, without any external help. She had lost a lot of blood. She got better on her own, without transfusions, and this is a sign of good physical condition," he explained.
Defanti told the newspaper that Englaro’s “physical state is optimal. Probably, and I underscore the term, she has resistance that is above-average."
As a result, he said he expected it would take a similar two weeks for Englaro to die as it did Terri Schiavo, during which time Englaro’s body would be subjected to intense pain and destruction.
"From the moment of the suspension [of food and water], 12-14 days will go by," the doctor predicted.
Meanwhile, the medical association Scienza & Vita has weighed in on Englaro’s case saying she “needs little, very little, to continue living.”
“For this reason, it is even more incomprehensible that she has been removed from the care of the sisters at Lecco, who not long ago were taking care of her as a simple and genuine gesture of love," it said.
“If then Eluana is a living and healthy person, it is even more necessary to support any attempt to stop the countdown in Udine," it added.
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