Milan’s appeals court is asked to rule on woman who has been in vegetative state for 16 years

An Italian court will be asked on 8 October to decide the fate of a 37 year old woman, Eluana Englaro, who has been in a persistent vegetative state since 1992.

It is the latest but possibly not the last move in a legal saga that has gone on for nine years since Eluana’s father, Beppino Englaro, first started the battle for the legal right to remove her feeding tube.

The case has moved through numerous courts, but in July Milan’s appeals court said that Eluana had the right to die through the withdrawal of food and water. The ruling specified that the withdrawal had to be taken in a public healthcare facility under the care of health professionals.

But since …