What the row about Eluana Englaro says about Italy and its political rulers

ON FEBRUARY 6th, at a clinic in Udine in north-east Italy, doctors withdrew nutritional support from a woman in an irreversible coma. Three days later, more quickly than expected, 38-year-old Eluana Englaro died of a heart attack brought on by dehydration.

Similar things happen every day in other parts of Europe. But in Italy this was a national drama. Outside the clinic, pro-life and pro-choice demonstrators came to blows. On national television, programming was suspended so that Ms Englaro’s death could be discussed. In the upper house of parliament, which was debating a bill to keep Ms Englaro alive, there was uproar. “Eluana has been killed,” cried a leading member of Silvio Berlusconi’s governing People of Freedom (PDL) movement—a phrase the prime minister himself repeated soon afterwards. ...