Assisted suicide: who are Felicetta Maltese and Virginia Fiume, the disobedients who risk prison

The investigating judge was due to pronounce on March 29, “but reserved the right to take more time to decide”. Felicetta Maltese and Virginia Fiume they smile, after the tension. On 9 February they reported themselves in Bologna for the help offered to Mrs. Paola, aged 89, who had wanted to die in Switzerland by “assisted suicide”. They are in fact part of the twenty volunteers who have chosen to support Marco Cappato, treasurer of the Luca Coscioni Association, in this type of mission. He too had self-reported himself as legal manager of the organization Civil aidfounded a few months ago, just to rally other “disobedients”, willing to get involved for what they consider humanitarian aid.

Premise: Paola, like others before her (Massimiliano, Romano, Elena), had to go to Switzerland because she could not access “assisted suicide” in our country: she was not kept alive by life-sustaining treatments, which is one of the conditions contemplated by sentence 242/2019 of the Cappato-Antoniani case, better known in Italy as the “Dj Fabo case”. In fact, it is not enough to be suffering from an irreversible pathology, a source of physical or psychological suffering that she deems intolerable, and to be fully capable of making free and informed decisions. In the case of Federico Carboni, on the other hand, all four conditions were met, which is why it was the first case of legal assisted suicide in Italy.

Felicetta Maltese he is 71 «and a half» years old, he points out. Of Sicilian origin but retired in Florence, she now accompanies people to die in Switzerland. Virginia River, activist and co-president of the pan-European movement Eumans, based in Brussels after having worked all over the world and “moved 15 times”, has just turned 40 “in a February full of turning points, from the divorce from my wife to self-denunciation for having brought Paola to die». For her it was “the first time”, for Felicetta the third.

What was your job before retirement?
Felicetta: «For 31 years and 6 months I was the station master. I entered the railways with the first competition open to women, starting at 19, at the time they also swore on the Constitution. It was a job that was deemed unsuitable for women: it was 1970. I swore on the Constitution. When I retired at 50, I continued to do the volunteering that I had already started doing. I’ve always said to myself: as long as I’m healthy, I’ll be a volunteer. And in fact I did it in Italy, for abused women, and abroad, many years in Guatemala. But always as an “independent”. I was a sympathizer of the Radicals and therefore I approached their battles, in particular the themes of the Coscioni Association».
Why euthanasia?
F: «I have a daughter, and when she was little I was always afraid of leaving her an orphan. Do you think that I made a will at 45 years old. When I saw that Marco Cappato was exposing himself to the risk of prison for accompanying people to Switzerland, despite having a small daughter, I was clear that he shouldn’t be left alone. Last October I made myself available, and in fact in November I took the car from Reggio Emilia to Milan to be able to accompany Romano, my first self-denunciation. Even if I did not continue in Switzerland, in fact, without that car it would not have been possible to transport the sick: cars for the transport of disabled people with the block for the wheelchair behind them are not easily found ».
No doubt the night before?
F: «I had a fever of 38, I didn’t tell Marco. But I wouldn’t have given up for anything in the world, I wanted to help, I didn’t feel good with a clear conscience otherwise”.
V: «When I met Paola for the first time, I had a little desire to understand if she really wanted to do this thing. I left her house in tears, not afterwards: because she wanted him so much ».
What’s the difference between the volunteering you’ve always done, and this one?
F: «I already take many elderly people to visits and physiotherapy, usually they are therapies to get better. Bringing people to Switzerland, even if it’s to put an end to one’s life, is just another way of helping someone in need, it’s no different.”
What sensations did he experience during the journey to Switzerland.
F: «First of all, we know the person days before, so that it isn’t a taxi. A relationship is established, first, because then the journey is long. On the part of those who get into the car there is trust with confidence, on my part there is maximum empathy, the will to grasp every minimum need to make things easier. For example, I came up with the idea of ​​the deck chair».
The deck chair?
F: «I wore it the first time because I thought it would be useful for managing a patient who moves with difficulty, perhaps to change him. But then it didn’t help that, but I noticed that in the two trips I made it was a welcome thing, a detachment from the wheelchair that was considered a cuddle. I was pleased to see them dozing off, because it meant they were serene».
What mood are these people in?
Virginia: «They are people who suffer but who are happy to reach their goal. Paola had only one fear: of not being able to say “yes” clearly. In fact, the day before the death, the doctor must certify the health conditions and the will. He asks exactly if the person is aware of what he is doing and wants to. At that moment there must be assent. Since she no longer spoke well, she raised her thumbs to say “yes”. But it took her between 30 seconds and a minute to do so, so she was afraid that her answer would not be perceived as clear ».
F: «Massimiliano, my second self-denunciation, was more capable of speaking than Paola. We stopped for coffee and a cigarette. A pleasant climate, I’d say.”
Felicetta says that she has chosen to help these sick people not to leave Marco Cappato alone. Are you Virginia?
V: «I’ve always been afraid of being blocked in my body, being a dynamic, lively, nomadic person. And then I am very angry that the Constitutional Court has blocked a referendum on euthanasia wanted by over one million two hundred thousand people who had signed up to do so. Paola for me was the first person I helped to go to Switzerland, but requests keep coming, so maybe she won’t be the last. But now we are about twenty volunteers ».
What did he feel?
V: «It was wonderful, for at least three reasons. The first is that it helps to exercise a freedom that a person alone cannot exercise. I replace his body. The second is that it was a chance to go through death: as an atheist, I miss rituals. Accompanying Paola pacified me a lot, it made me see the end as a moment of serenity. The third reason is that Paola was ironic, very strong, I learned a lot from her».
Are you Felicetta Catholic?
F: «I have done all the sacraments but I am not a Catholic. I have only one creed: to love your neighbor as yourself. A certain Jesus Christ said so. In that sense I am a believer: I try to be positive for my neighbor. And I don’t believe what the Church says, that is, that life is a gift: if life is a gift, once it is given to me it becomes mine, I am responsible for my life and I also want to dispose of it”.
Do you receive criticism?
V: «No, to tell the truth, after we reported ourselves we received many compliments and thanks too. Publicly we have not yet registered haters ».
What did your family tell you?
F: «I have a daughter, who is 47 today. I told her right away. She asked me: have you thought about it? Then she gave me her blessing of hers. But no one, from my husband onwards, has ever thought of saying to me: what are you doing? No one blamed me, they just understood me.”
V: «The people in my life support me. My mom always told me, “Do what feels right, and if it’s not right, we’ll fix it.” I don’t have children, so I feel freer in my choices. Even the risk of imprisonment, for me, is less impactful».
So far Cappato has been archived. How are you? What do you expect?
V: «There are three scenarios, filing, going to trial or the doubt of constitutionality to be brought forward by our lawyers. Marco Cappato also had to go through a process before the historic sentence on DJ Fabo, we are prepared for anything. There is a risk of 5 to 12 years in prison, there is tension».
Is it worth doing even if there is this tension?
V: «Yes. It’s too important a battle.”
F: «Tension, stress exist, but it was essential for me to do so. I prefer the risk to the guilt of pulling back, the only way I feel at peace with my conscience».
V: «The emotion is strong. It’s a twenty-year struggle: Paola joins Piergiorgio Welby, Luca Coscioni, Massimiliano, Federico, and all those who have died so far».
F: “I’m moved…”.
V: «It’s a lot of life. Many emotions. Whole life. For this she weeps.’