Italian clinic prepared to help coma woman die

AN Italian clinic said yesterday it would take in a woman who has been in a coma for 17 years whose family is seeking to have her life ended, as the Roman Catholic Church kept up pressure to keep her alive.

The clinic in the northeastern Udine region said it would allow Eluana Englaro to spend her last days there, following a request from her family.

A court in Milan, near where Englaro is hospitalised, ruled on November 13 that her life support could be withdrawn, but the local authorities barred hospitals under their control from carrying out the decision.