Giovanni Nuvoli (

Alghero Alghero (; ca, label= Alguerese, L'Alguer ; sc, S'Alighèra ; sdc, L'Aliera ) is a city of about 45,000 inhabitants in the Italian insular province of Sassari in northwestern Sardinia, next to the Mediterranean Sea. The city's name comes from ...

, 15 December 1953 –

, 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 commo ...

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 freedo ...

, he fought for his

right to die The right to die is a concept based on the opinion that human beings are entitled to end their life or undergo voluntary euthanasia. Possession of this right is often understood that a person with a terminal illness, incurable pain, or without ...

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 A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...

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 Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, 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 muscular dy ...

References

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