During the 1960s, he became influenced by the hippie movement, extensively travelling throughout Europe from 1969 to 1971 and using drugs to help forget his disease; back in Italy, he devoted his life to poetry and painting, supporting himself by giving private lessons.

In April 2003 he opened a blog,[5] expressing his views on different topics, commenting on current political events and publishing small poems.

In May 2005, on the occasion of a referendum dealing, among other topics, with the use of human embryos for stem cell research, he specifically asked his fellow Radical Party members to take him to his local polling station,[6] after his request to let disabled people who depend on life-support machinery to vote in their homes was denied.

[7] In April 2006, a worsening of his muscular dystrophy paralyzed the finger which let him use the mouse, making him unable to use his computer and heavily limiting his communication.

Napolitano answered he felt deeply touched by Welby's situation, inviting Italian politicians to a parliamentary debate on this and similar complex ethical issues.

On a televised debate, Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragán declared that stopping mechanical ventilation would only be acceptable if it were judged futile or disproportionate by his doctors.

Subsequently, after Melazzini's statement, hundreds of patients (among them notable cases in medical ethics such as Nello Guerra Crescenzi, Enrico Canova, and Salvatore Crisafulli — who was famous for having come out of a 2-year coma) wrote letters to Welby asking him to "fight for his life".

[13] One of Welby's doctors noted that after switching off the ventilator, the code of conduct would force him to take proper action to revive the patient once he reached a state of unconsciousness.

[14] The case was brought to a court which denied the request, finding no specific law governed it and urging Parliament to solve the problem.

[15] In December 2006, anesthetist Mario Riccio contacted Radical Party member Marco Cappato, informing him that he would perform the operation, seeing no legal impediments.

Despite strong pressure from public opinion, both the Ethical Committee of local Medical Association and the criminal court judged Doctor Riccio's conduct to be legitimate.