After she had an accident in 1992, Eluana Englaro fell into a coma. For years, her father had been trying to enforce the termination of the total parenteral nutrition she was receiving. In November 2008, the highest Italian court of appeal approved in the last instance a directive of Milano's court of appeals, due to which the total parenteral nutrition of the patient could be discontinued. This, however, failed in the first place due to an intervention by the Ministry of Health.

Nevertheless, Eluana Englaro was relocated to a nursing home during the first week of February; there, her total parenteral nutrition was terminated. The patient's relocation was accompanied by critics protesting against the court's ruling. The Vatican, too, criticised the ruling. The Italian government under Prime Minister Berlusconi tried to enforce the continuation of the total parenteral nutrition by means of an urgent decree. President Napolitano, however, prevented the coming into effect by refusing to sign the decree. Reacting to this, the government wanted to enact a law through an expedited proceeding, which would have required the continuation of the total parenteral nutrition.

Nonetheless, Eluana Englaro passed away on 9 February 2009 before the expedited proceeding could be brought to a close. Due to first results derived from an autopsy, the patient died of dehydration, meaning she died of thirst. The physicians' proceedings would thus be consistent with the court's ruling. Critics, including Prime Minister Berlusconi, had previously made allegations und had speculated in public that Englaro might not have died a natural death. The short range of time between the termination of the total parenteral nutrition and the time of death particularly fuelled suspicions of such nature. These accusations did, however, not prove true after the autopsy. After the Italian Parliament, against the background of Englaro's death, had initiated another law concerning the regulation of euthanasia in Italy, the Italian Senate in late March 2009 passed a draft law according to which a termination of life-saving techniques, such as liquids and food, shall be prohibited in the future. The enactment of this law by the chamber of deputies is still being awaited. However, a law passed in 2017, which declares advance decisions to be binding and guarantees the right to refuse artificial nourishment, renders the contents of this draft law at least partially obsolete.