Giovanni Nuvoli ( Alghero, 15 December 1953 – Alghero, 23 July 2007) was an Italian former football referee who suffered of

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most comm ...

since 2001."Un nuovo caso Welby a Sassari: no a un distrofico che voleva morire"
''La Repubblica'', February 13, 2007 With the help of

Associazione Luca Coscioni The Luca Coscioni Association for the freedom of scientific research was founded on September 20, 2002 by Luca Coscioni, who had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and was a member of the Italian Radical Party who promoted the campaign for the freedom ...

, he fought for his right to die but his attempted

euthanasia Euthanasia (from el, εὐθανασία 'good death': εὖ, ''eu'' 'well, good' + θάνατος, ''thanatos'' 'death') is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering. Different countries have different eut ...

was blocked by the authorities on 13 February 2007. He started a hunger strike on 16 July 2007 and subsequently died on 23 July."'Giovanni si è lasciato morire di inedia': il dolore della moglie di Nuvoli"
''La Repubblica'', July 24, 2007 The case sparked controversy in Italy, also because of its similarity to that of

Piergiorgio Welby Piergiorgio Welby (26 December 1945 – 20 December 2006) was an Italian poet, painter and activist whose three-month-long battle to establish his right to die led to a debate about euthanasia in his country. Welby was diagnosed with muscula ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nuvoli, Giovanni 1953 births 2007 deaths People from Alghero Italian football referees Assisted suicide Medical controversies in Italy Sportspeople from Sardinia