Woman who has been in coma for 31 years dies

Italian woman Miriam Visintin has died after spending more than 31 years in a coma following a car crash.

Miriam, from Riese, Veneto, was driving in Casoni di Mussolente, Veneto on Christmas Eve in 1991 when she lost control on the icy ground and hit a pole.

She was taken to hospital, but her husband of just a year and a half, Angelo Farina, learned she had suffered an inoperable brain injury.

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Doctors told Angelo that his wife would likely not survive the night, but Miriam fell into a coma and remained that way for the next three decades; through the new Millennium, numerous presidents, the coronavirus outbreak and the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

Miriam was recently moved to the San Bassiano hospital due to a buildup of fluid in her lungs, but she passed away on 10 May, more than 31 years after her accident.

Angelo later confirmed that his wife had died of cardiac arrest, saying: "She finally had peace for her injustice... Finally she's up there in peace and in paradise.

"We had only been married a year and a half when tragedy struck. We were so young and had so many projects... fate has been cruel to her. She didn't deserve all of this."

Following Miriam's accident, Angelo went on to build a life with another woman, but the devoted man still went to visit Miriam in hospital every day, often numerous times a day, with the only exceptions coming during the pandemic.

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Speaking to La Repubblica, he explained that he would go to see Miriam for 'at least 15 minutes' during his lunch break.

"Sometimes I managed to go even in the evening," he said. "If I went back, I would do it all over again."

Angelo would talk to Miriam about 'the events of the day'; the things he would have told her if he'd 'found her in the living room' when he came home each day.

Miriam's loved ones honoured her life at a funeral at the parish church in her hometown on Saturday (13 May), with Angelo explaining that he had decided straight after Miriam's accident to 'stay there next to her, forever, until the last of her days'.

"It was very difficult," he said. "Not an easy situation to accept. I had so much anger inside. Such a beautiful, good and special girl shouldn't have ended that way."

The mayor of Cassola paid tribute to Miriam and honoured Angelo's devotion in a statement following the news of her death, saying: "What struck me a lot, in addition to the tragedy of a vegetative life that lasted 31 years, is the closeness of her husband, perpetuated in daily gestures of love for so long.

"In a very self-centered world, this example gives reason to believe that humanity still exists."