Hopes of a possible "return to life" have long since vanished. The doctors were clear: the coma is irreversible. Andrea Manca has been in a vegetative state for two years, in a condition that he has always called "non-life" and that he would not have wanted to face. And to respect the will, always declared by the 58-year-old trade unionist, his brother Alessandro (support administrator) asked the judge to interrupt the medical treatments (based on law 219 of 2017 on informed consent and advance treatment provisions). Yesterday the hearing in Court, the judge will rule in the coming weeks.
History
It all started in the summer of two years ago when the Sars-Cov2 virus was still raging. Andrea Manca was one of the many victims: positive for Covid, he was in solitary confinement then on July 22, 2021 cardiac arrest. The rush to the hospital where the trade unionist had arrived in desperate conditions, "in a post-anoxic coma" (for several minutes the oxygen had not reached the brain), unconscious and intubated. The transfer to Cagliari, other heart complications and in the end we reach the limit. Vegetative state, Manca is completely dependent on machinery, for doctors "negative recovery prognosis compared to consciousness".
The request
After several months, consultations and opinions of luminaries and specialists, the diagnoses are always the same and extinguish all hope. And then his brother Alessandro decides to respect Andrea's will who, as emerged from the many testimonies of friends and acquaintances, has always repeated that it would have been better to die than to live like a vegetable. He has left nothing in writing, but as required by law, the guardian can enforce his will. Thus medical records and testimonies ended up in the appeal presented by the lawyer Antonio Tola who assists Alessandro Manca. In recent months, the judge had also appointed his own consultant (Mario Cardia, director of Anesthesia at Brotzu in Cagliari) and his report is in line with the other diagnoses.
The hearing
Yesterday the lawyer asked the judge Gabriele Bordiga to indicate a plurality of structures in which to carry out the interruption of health treatments (possibly also that of Milis where Andrea Manca is currently hospitalized). The special curator appointed by the Court, the lawyer Valerio Martis, communicated that he has already contacted the coordinator of the Oristano hospice Giuseppe Obinu who will be able to make a team available for the interruption of treatments. It was then requested that the subjects who will have to deal with the administrative authorizations be indicated to avoid hitches that would risk prolonging a delicate and profoundly painful condition both for Andrea and for the people who are close to him.
