SYDNEY, Australia - A mercy-killing campaigner has demonstrated a prototype, do-it-yourself suicide machine designed to kill quickly and peacefully with a few breaths of carbon monoxide. The machine, just a sealed container with some plastic piping and hose, mixes two ingredients to produce the deadly, colorless, odorless gas. Dr. Philip Nitschke, who developed the machine at a cost of $6,500, said it's designed so people who wish to take their own life can build it at home for less than $65.
Nitschke is founder of the pro-euthanasia organization, Exit, which runs workshops advising terminally ill people on how to commit suicide. The average age of members is 75 years.
Euthanasia advocate Philip Nitschke will this weekend unveil a controversial suicide machine in the hope it will inspire people to create their own devices.
Dr Nitschke will conduct the world-first demonstration of his suicide machine, that provides users with a lethal dose of carbon monoxide through a nasal tube, at the Killing Me Softly conference in Sydney. A police spokesman said Surry Hills Police were aware of the conference, organised by lobby group EXIT Australia, and would monitor the situation. The device came to worldwide attention in January when it was confiscated from Dr Nitschke at Sydney airport as he attempted to board a plane to California.
Dr Nitschke said he would not be selling the device on Saturday, or teaching the 150-strong conference how to make it, but hoped the demonstration would give people ideas on how to end their own life peacefully. "The purpose of the demonstration is that other people will use the idea and then build their own machines to end their lives at a time of their own choosing," Dr Nitschke told AAP. He said although it had cost him several thousand dollars to develop the device, which has not yet been used on a person, it could be made at home for less than $100. "The device is the size of a small jar and involves a piece of PVC piping which can be put in the jar in a way that allows gas to be generated, cooled and delivered through nasal prongs," he said. "The device has come about as a consequence of a lack of legislation on the issue," he said. The conference will also discuss new drugs which can be used in euthanasia and the controversial EXIT plastic bag.
Dr Nitschke said the plastic bags, which were also confiscated at Sydney airport earlier this year, were specially-designed bags with an elasticised drawstring. The bag could be used to bring about a peaceful death by suffocation if taken in conjunction with a sedative, he said. The first day of the conference on Friday caused a stir when a medical expert said that that voluntary euthanasia was about making suicide "easier" and "more pleasant".
Australian Federation of Right to Life Associations spokeswoman, Mary Joseph, said Friday's comments promoted euthanasia as a pleasant and easy option. Ms Joseph said the comments by NSW Voluntary Euthanasia Society patron Professor Peter Baume were a marketing ploy designed to sanitise the act.
Nelson man Ralph Vincent, who has just learned that he will not be prosecuted over the death of his wife Vicky last year, says his sole aim in life now is to advance the cause of voluntary euthanasia. Mr Vincent was called to the Nelson police station on Wednesday afternoon and told by Detective Sergeant Kevin Tiernan that police would not be pursuing criminal charges against him due to insufficient evidence.
"My sole aim in life is to try and relieve the suffering of people who are in pain, for whom the medical profession is unable to give ready relief, or are just incapacitated to the extent that they no longer want to live," he said.
Mr Vincent, 84, was leaving for Sydney today to speak at a seminar for the Exit organisation, at the invitation of prominent voluntary euthanasia advocate Philip Nitschke, dubbed "Dr Death". He said he "hadn't the faintest idea" what he would do when he returned from Australia next week, but he hoped to continue to help the right-to-die movement in any way he could. Mrs Vincent was found dead with a plastic bag over her head in the couple's home last September, after years of suffering various forms of arthritis. She had become bedridden just prior to her death. The police investigation centred on whether her death had been a suicide or an assisted suicide. The case will now be referred to a coroner's inquest. Mr Vincent said he was "completely ambivalent" about the police decision. Detective Inspector John Winter said police had reviewed the case and sought a legal opinion on it. He said he was satisfied that their decision not to charge Mr Vincent had been the right one.
Mr Vincent said assisting a suicide was a criminal offence, and he and his late wife had wanted the law changed.
"In those dire circumstances, where a person considers life not worth living, then they should be allowed to die with family around them and not have to slink off by themselves to die miserably and alone." Mr Vincent said the investigation had enabled him to win publicity for the voluntary euthanasia movement and to help people in similar circumstances to his own. He expects to be interviewed by Australian media during his week-long visit.
Wanganui woman Lesley Martin, who has been formally charged with the attempted murder of her terminally ill mother in 1999, will also attend the seminar. Asked if he thought the investigation had taken a long time to complete, Mr Vincent said it was hard to blame the police. "Nelson has had a fair spate of crime in last seven to eight months. It's been fairly obvious that Nelson police have had more urgent things to do than possibly prosecute an old man who may or may not have committed a crime."
A Victorian court decision giving a terminally-ill woman the right to die could have implications for patients around Australia, euthanasia campaigner Philip Nitschke said today. The Victorian Supreme Court today ruled that a woman who had been in a vegetative state for three years and fed through a tube should be allowed to die. Justice Stuart Morris said the provision of nutrition and hydration by a stomach tube constituted medical treatment, under the Victorian Medical Treatment Act, and it could be refused.
Dr Nitschke, who attended today's decision, said he was heartened by the fact the judge had allowed common sense to take its course. He said several patients in similar situations to BWV had been to his Exit clinics, and today's decision could now give them the right to die.
"I've had them take it up with me already," he told AAP. Dr Nitschke said he had one patient in Queensland with motor neurone disease fed through a stomach tube who had expressed a wish to die. He would also meet with a patient in Sydney this weekend to discuss today's implications. Dr Nitschke said while today's decision related to the Victorian Medical Treatment Act, it set a nationwide precedent.
"Presumably this may have to go through other state legislatures ... but the precedent has been set," he said.
But Dr Nitschke agreed with the judge that medical treatment could only be refused when the patient had expressed a wish to have their treatment terminated.
An application concerning a dying woman was a "roll of the dice" for the euthanasia cause, the Right to Life group told the Supreme Court yesterday. Jeanette Morrish, QC, for Right to Life, told Justice Stuart Morris that the case coincided with the first anniversary of the death of Gold Coast woman Nancy Crick.
She said euthanasia advocate Dr Philip Nitschke - in court briefly yesterday - had described Mrs Crick as a martyr to the cause of euthanasia. Ms Morrish asked Justice Morris not to make declarations requested by the Victorian Public Advocate, Julian Gardner, the legal guardian of a woman known as "BWV", 68. Mr Gardner has applied to withdraw medical treatment to BWV. Medical treatment can be refused on behalf of a critically ill person under state laws, but whether the term includes assisted feeding by tube is in dispute. Ms Morrish said there was no evidence of monetary gain for the family in BWV's case, but the declarations would set a dangerous precedent. She said the courts did not want spurious defences to homicide being opened up on the basis of false claims that accused killers were carrying out the wishes of their victims.
"Why would you want to do something that may be misconstrued?" she said. "You can see the headlines - a judge of the Supreme Court told me if I do that, it wouldn't be murder. That is not a function of the Supreme Court."
Julian Burnside, QC, for Mr Gardner, denied the case was about euthanasia and said it was not about setting up regimes to kill people. "People do have different views about euthanasia… Parliament has not authorised euthanasia. It has set up a regime for refusing (medical) treatment," he said. Mr Burnside has argued that artificial nutrition and hydration being given to BWV were medical procedures and as such could be refused.
Medical experts have given evidence that BWV suffers from a progressive form of dementia and has been in a vegetative state for three years. She was described as having no hope of recovery and no quality of life.
Ms Morrish said the evidence recorded that BWV had no prospect of recovery, but there might be other cases in which the prospect of life was misdiagnosed. She said Justice Morris had not received evidence about the numbers of Victorians receiving similar nourishment in homes, hospitals and nursing homes. Nor had treating doctors, carers or nurses given evidence about anti-depressant and pain-killing treatment BWV was receiving. Ms Morrish said the law was based on checks and balances and guardians should not be able to make life-or-death decisions without scrutiny.
Mr Burnside said Parliament had intended to allow guardians to make such decisions. He said the case was before the court because one crucial aspect of the relevant law was unclear.
Justice Morris said he expected to deliver his decision next Thursday.
POLICE in three states said yesterday they were powerless to stop euthanasia activist Philip Nitschke from holding workshops during which people could make their own suicide machines.
Police in Victoria, NSW and Queensland said it was unlikely they would try to stop Dr Nitschke from holding his workshops along the eastern seaboard, starting in Brisbane, in coming months. And Dr Nitschke will hold a three-day conference in Sydney from May 30, at which he plans to demonstrate for the first time his death machine, the CO Generator.
The generator is designed to help terminally ill people die peacefully by giving them a dose of lethal gas through a plastic nasal tube. But police did say that assisting a suicide was illegal under the crimes act in all three states. But to prosecute someone for the offence was difficult unless someone committed suicide and sufficient evidence was discovered to prove they had received assistance.
"Setting up a workshop on suicide is not a crime," one police officer said.
Right to Life Australia spokesman Margaret Tighe said a law was needed to stop Dr Nitschke's workshops, which she described as monstrous. "He is running amok with these workshops," she said. "Suicide prevention is a big issue in this country and yet we sit back and let this happen."
Dr Nitschke said he was prepared for a fight over the legality of the workshops, at which people would learn together to build the machines.
NSW Police Minister John Watkins refused to comment on the Sydney conference, at which some former federal ministers and several husbands who have helped their wives die will attend.
Among the speakers will be Melbourne man Alexander Maxwell, who pleaded guilty in March to aiding and abetting the suicide of his wife Margaret, who was dying from breast cancer. He is awaiting sentence in the Victorian Supreme Court.
A Nelson man being investigated by police after his wife died with a plastic bag over her head is travelling to Australia to speak at a voluntary euthanasia seminar. Police are yet to decide whether they will charge 84-year-old Ralph Vincent following the death of his terminally ill wife Vicky in September last year. Mr Vincent said he had been invited to speak in Sydney at an Exit seminar and was due to leave on May 29. He said he would also be interviewed by Australian journalists during his week-long visit. The seminars are being run by the prominent Australian voluntary euthanasia advocate dubbed "Dr Death", Philip Nitschke. Dr Nitschke has provoked controversy by holding seminars that teach people how to commit suicide using his exit suffocation bags or by building their own carbon dioxide machines. He met Mr Vincent earlier this year while conducting workshops in New Zealand, where he expressed interest in Mr Vincent travelling to Australia.
Wanganui woman Lesley Martin, who has been formally charged with the attempted murder of her terminally ill mother in 1999, will also be attending the Australian seminars.
Mr Vincent said he accepted the invitation because he was ready to contribute to the voluntary euthanasia cause in any way he could.
"In both New Zealand and Australian law, suicide is no longer a crime, although it used to be. But assisting a suicide is a punishable offence and this of course is the whole basis to the movement for voluntary euthanasia. In so many pitiful cases the suffering person who wants so dearly to quit is not in a position to do this because of indisposition." He said that many people were not prepared to allow suffering to continue whilst awaiting the inevitable. "Vicky and I were in complete agreement that it's pointless for one to suffer when the condition can only worsen and medical people can do nothing about it except to alleviate the pain at the expense of virtually robbing you of your mind." Mr Vincent said he had remained in close contact with Nelson police throughout their investigation and had informed them of his decision to attend the Australian seminars. He was "utterly devoted" to the voluntary euthanasia cause and was not in the least bit apprehensive about the outcome of his police investigation. "In the ultimate I would be not pleased, but not unhappy, if the case actually came to trial."
As the euthanasia debate heats up across New Zealand, a new survey of Tauranga people shows that more than half those polled support legalised mercy killing. Asked if they supported the idea of euthanasia, nearly one in five said that they would, depending on the circumstances. The Bay of Plenty Times/Key Research survey asked 312 respondents whether they would help a loved one die if they had a terminal illness or were physically suffering regardless of it being legal or not. Fifty-three percent of people in Tauranga would support legalising euthanasia or mercy killing in cases of terminal illness or suffering. Twenty-two percent -- or 67 people -- said they would assist, while 28 percent said they might, depending on the circumstances. Nearly 40 percent said they definitely would not take part in mercy killing.
The issue is back in the limelight with a voluntary euthanasia bill being introduced into Parliament and Australian campaigner Dr Philip Nitschke touring the country, giving speeches and workshops in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch. More men than women -- 57 percent to 50 percent -- supported mercy killing. Most supporters fell in the 35 to 44 years age group. Those aged from 45 to 54 definitely did not agree.
NZ First MP Peter Brown, who is promoting his Death with Dignity Bill, which legalises medically assisted deaths, was surprised the level of support was not higher. He said that in every formal survey done since 1994, at least 63 percent has embraced voluntary euthanasia.
"What the poll tells me is that the time is right for compassionate legislation in the circumstances where somebody is terminally ill and suffering."
Men were more likely to help a loved one to die. The highest proportion of people who would definitely help -- 30 percent -- were in the 45 to 54 age group. Those aged 35 to 44 years were more likely to help, depending on the circumstances.
Father Joe Stack, parish priest of the St Marys Catholic Church in Tauranga, said people did not have the right to decide -- "we are mixing our morals and understanding of what human life is all about". Fr Stack said he could sympathise with someone who supported a person who was really sick and in great pain "but it's not for us to finish him or her off".
On the poll results, Fr Stack said it was revealing that the older age group (45 to 54 years) did not back legalising euthanasia. The closer people got to death the less inclined they were to rush in and terminate their life or someone else's. People recognise they have value regardless of their age. Fr Stack said the survey raised more questions than it answered.
"A lot of what we read is to do with people who are watching someone die or is in great pain and they find it difficult to bear. I would be horrified if the medical profession could purposefully intend the death of anyone. Is Peter Brown building a compassionate and more caring society?" he asked.
This research was conducted on behalf of the Bay Times by Key Research & Marketing as part of their regular INSIGHT syndicated survey.
Veterinarians in Australia and New Zealand are outraged at suggestions by a leading euthanasia proponent that people wanting to kill themselves should befriend a vet because they have access to lethal drugs. Australian doctor Philip Nitschke, one of the most controversial figures in the global movement to legalize euthanasia and assisted-suicide, made the comments at a meeting while on a speaking tour in New Zealand. Although doctors can't supply people with the fast-acting barbiturate Nembutal, he was quoted as saying, vets do have access to it. Old and sick people wanting to kill themselves sometimes resorted to hanging because they could not get access to drugs, Nitschke said. "Desperate people do desperate things." Vets, however, could potentially help, and "some quite courageous vets are prepared to move a bottle or two sideways." Nitschke holds clinics in the two countries where information on euthanasia methods are discussed. "I often say to people at my clinics: 'Do you have any vets who owe you favors?' " he told the meeting.
"A woman who came to a clinic told me she had gone back to a vet and reminded him of a brief affair she had had with him years ago. The next time I saw her she looked very happy." Nitschke made similar comments in an Australian television interview.
"I'm telling people to get friendly with a vet because vets are the only people that have access to the very best of the drugs," he said.
Nembutal, the barbiturate that killed Marilyn Monroe, is the drug of choice of euthanasia advocates. It is not generally available in Australia and New Zealand - although it used to be available as a sleeping drug - but vets use it to put down animals. Nembutal is a controlled substance in the United States, and one of the drugs prescribed by doctors in Oregon under that state's Death With Dignity Act. It has also been used in suicides in Belgium and the Netherlands, where euthanasia has been legalized. If ingested, it generally induces a coma within minutes and death shortly thereafter. Vets use small doses, injected intravenously, to put down animals. A vet working in Auckland said Wednesday he was shocked at Nitschke's suggestions.
"That is enormously bad news, making the assumption that a vet would ever do that," he said. "That's a stupid thing, an extraordinary thing to say. If a vet handed any of that stuff over he'd be struck off the register the next day." The vet said the barbiturate was very potent when injected into the vein - one milliliter kills a cat in seconds, and 20ml a horse, he said. About 10ml would be sufficient to kill an adult human if taken that way. While he thought it highly unlikely that vets would hand the drug out to friends, he conceded that from a practical point of view, it would be possible to pass on small amounts without it being noticed.
"It's actually not that well-monitored, to tell you the truth," he said. "You don't account for every milliliter you use."
He buys the drug by the 200ml bottle and the supplier keeps the information on record. A sudden substantial increase in the amount ordered would be noticed, "but you don't need much to kill a person."
The president of the Australian Veterinary Association, Dr. Jo Toia, said Nitschke's comments were outrageous and offensive. She said the association was "genuinely horrified" at the suggestion, as vets took their legal and ethical responsibilities very seriously. Toia said by phone Wednesday Nitschke's statements were also highly irresponsible. They could encourage "desperate people" to break into vets' clinics to try find Nembutal, or to try to pressurize vets to hand some over, she said. Already one member of the association had been approached by a member of the public apparently anxious to get hold of lethal drugs, and as a result had stepped up security at his clinic. Toia said vets were bound by various codes of practice, and strict guidelines for the handling and storage of drugs.
"We have a very, very strong sense of legal and ethical obligations, we have a code of behavior, we have legal requirements that we have to abide by. Overall, veterinarians are ethical and it's a law-abiding profession." Toia confirmed that any vet who provided veterinary chemicals for use by humans would be prosecuted under drug and poison laws, and would face certain loss of registration from state veterinary bodies.
Under the world's first euthanasia law, passed in 1996 in Australia's Northern Territory, Nitschke helped four patients to kill themselves, using a machine he designed linking a computer to an intravenous line delivering Nembutal. The law was overruled by the country's Senate several months later. Euthanasia remains illegal in Australia and in New Zealand, where lawmakers will soon be asked to vote on a death-with-dignity bill modeled on the Northern Territory one. Nitschke's New Zealand tour was in part aimed at generating public support for the legislation. The Australian campaigner has designed and promoted a number of devices in recent years to facilitate suicide.
Euthanasia campaigner Philip Nitschke has claimed Australian vets illegally provided euthanasia drugs to people who wished to end their own lives. Dr Nitschke said the best drug for euthanasia was Nembutal, and only vets could supply it in Australia. Nembutal, an anaesthetic and sleeping drug available overseas, was used in Australia to euthanase animals but doctors could no longer prescribe it, he said. Dr Nitschke said although the practice was not widespread, he knew of vets who supplied Nembutal for the purposes of euthanasia.
"A vet who did that would be breaking the law ... but the point is that they do do that," he told the Seven Network today. "They do it for people they care about, they do it for people they love. Vets know full well that they have the ability here to really help people...(and) some quite courageous vets are prepared to move a bottle or two sideways."
Dr Nitschke, who was yesterday detained for questioning at Melbourne airport after returning from a speaking tour in New Zealand, advised people who wanted to end their own lives to "get friendly with a vet".
"I'm telling people to get friendly with a vet because vets are the only people that have access to the very best of the drugs," he said. But he denied he was encouraging people to break the law. Dr Nitschke said Nembutal was used in assisted suicides in the Netherlands and Belgium, where euthanasia was legal. He said Australians who wished to end their lives had to resort to more violent methods.
"Desperate people do desperate things," he said. "What do you tell those people? Do you tell them about drugs or don't you?"
AUSTRALIA's leading euthanasia campaigner Dr Philip Nitschke was today taken in for questioning by Customs officials on arrival from New Zealand. Dr Nitschke said he was interrogated by Customs officials at Melbourne airport for two hours this morning. He had been in New Zealand as part of a speaking tour. He said Customs officials photocopied confidential medical documents.
"It's just incredibly invasive," Dr Nitschke told AAP. "They went through absolutely everything and spread it all out there all over the table in their little interrogation room."
Voluntary euthanasia advocate Lesley Martin's scheduled appearance in court today on a charge of attempting to murder her critically ill mother was postponed. Martin, who admitted in a book that she tried unsuccessfully to kill her mother Joy in May 1999, was due to have appeared in Wanganui District Court for a pre-depositions hearing. But the case was adjourned because the crown has yet to disclose to Martin's lawyers all the evidence it has against her. A court spokesperson said the matter should proceed directly to a depositions hearing once that has happened. A date for the hearing has yet to be set.
Australian euthanasia campaigner Dr Philip Nitschke yesterday attacked the federal government for its planned crackdown on suicide websites. The government wants to impose offences for the distribution of suicide information on the Internet. Dr Nitschke said the government planned to take away good laws to help people end their suffering.
"I guess this is just another step in this federal government's approach," Dr Nitschke told ABC Radio. "To first of all taking away good laws making it impossible for suffering people to get access to decent drugs and now of course making it impossible for them to even get information that they can use to end their suffering."
The government plans to introduce new offences for distributing information that incites or promotes suicide via the Internet. Justice Minister Chris Ellison last week said recent studies published in psychiatric journals indicated information about suicide on the Internet may encourage suicidal behaviour. There are more than 10,000 web sites about suicide, with some advocating suicide and detailing suicide methods. The offences would reinforce existing bans on importing and exporting documents related to the use of suicide kits, Senator Ellison said.
Euthanasia campaigner Dr Philip Nitschke says he is angered at moves by the Federal Government to charge people who distribute information on suicide via the Internet. The Commonwealth is introducing new offences for distributing information via the Internet regarding suicide. Dr Nitschke says he uses the Internet extensively to keep in contact with elderly people who may want to end their own lives due to pain or suffering from an illness.
"And I guess this is just another step in this Federal Government's approach," he said. "To first of all taking away good laws making it impossible for suffering people to get access to decent drugs and now of course making it impossible for them to even get information that they can use to end their suffering."
The Australian government is planning a clampdown on Internet websites that promote suicide, saying studies have shown that information on the subject may encourage suicidal behavior. Justice and Customs Minister Chris Ellison said the aim is to prevent the use of the Internet to provide information "that encourages vulnerable individuals to take their own lives." Anyone in Australia convicted under a proposed law of using the Internet to promote suicide could face fines of up to $65,000. The action is part of a broader government program also targeting those who use the Internet to disseminate or download child pornography.
A spokeswomen for Ellison's office on Monday cited two expert studies, published in 1997 and 1999, that had studied the role of the Internet in promoting suicidal behavior. The first, published in the International Association for Suicide Prevention's journal, Crisis, looked at interactive suicide notes involving people who later committed suicide, illustrating the potential influence of the Internet on those who wanted to share their ideas and thoughts about suicide. The other study, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, reported on suicide attempts that showed the risk of having access via the Internet to information on suicide methods. A simple browser search for suicide methods turned up more than 300,000 results. Near the top of the list, along with satirical or academic sites, were ones offering detailed advice on ways to kill oneself. Some offer gory after-the-fact pictures. Apart from websites, the Internet also offers newsgroups and chatrooms where any subject can be discussed and advice sought and be given. On one typical newsgroup, web users share information on everything from where to get hold of potentially lethal substances, to how to avoid botching the suicide attempt. Ellison's spokeswoman said the Australian government's plan also aimed at preventing the distribution of material promoting suicide by email.
One of the most controversial figures in the worldwide movement to legalize assisted suicide is an Australian euthanasia advocate and doctor Philip Nitschke. He is likely a key target of the planned government action. Nitschke slammed the move, saying he uses the Internet to communicate with elderly, ill people who may want to take their own lives. Not only had the government rescinded "good laws" that would help people in that situation, it was now wanting to make it "impossible for them to even get information that they can use to end their suffering," he said. Nitschke was referring to a short-lived law legalizing assisted suicide for terminally-ill patients in Australia's Northern Territory in the mid-1990s, under which he helped four people to die using a contraption linking a computer to a needle and the lethal barbiturate, Nembutal. Since the law's repeal in 1998, Nitschke has been agitating for the legalization of euthanasia in Australia. He regularly holds clinics at which information on suicide is discussed, while taking pains not to break the law.
Meanwhile, Nitschke's meetings in New Zealand have drawn small audiences, despite considerable pre-publicity and the fact the visit coincides with a parliamentary debate on a "death with dignity" bill, and the trial of a euthanasia proponent charged with trying to kill her terminally-ill mother. A public meeting in Auckland (pop. 1.1 million) drew fewer than 40 people.
David Fisk, spokesman for the New Zealand pro-life group Family Life International noted that Nitschke believes all people -- regardless of age or health -- should have the right to take their own life, and that it should be legal to provide people with the required knowledge to do so. "Given that he has played a big part in the deaths of so many in Australia where euthanasia is illegal, we would have to wonder what the death toll will be if it became legal in New Zealand," he said.
A private member's bill, to be debated by lawmakers in Wellington this week, seeks to legalize euthanasia for an adult who has obtained two independent medical opinions, undergone professional counseling and gone through a mandatory waiting period.
Medical officials in New Zealand plan to question Australian GP Philip Nitschke over concerns relating to his euthanasia workshops. The doctor – dubbed Dr Death – is in New Zealand conducting workshops and public meetings about voluntary euthanasia.
Medical Council president John Campbell said the council had not been made aware of Dr Nitschke's intentions to hold euthanasia workshops in New Zealand. "Dr Nitschke is not registered with the Medical Council. While it appears that he is not holding himself out as a New Zealand-registered doctor, his activities concern us, because our definition of the practice of medicine goes wider than clinical care of patients and includes any activity that draws on medical training", Professor Campbell said. "We intend to contact Dr Nitschke to discuss his activities and our definition of practising medicine."
At a workshop in Auckland this week Dr Nitschke said he planned to hold sessions about building carbon monoxide machines in Australia later this year. If successful, he would also seriously consider holding such workshops in New Zealand. Dr Nitschke said the do-it-yourself workshops would cater to groups of about 20, and would focus on people teaching themselves to make the machines to get around the law. He said he also planned to change his organisation's name from Exit Australia to Exit Australasia because of the strong support in New Zealand for voluntary euthanasia. He had begun inquiries about how to change the company's name, which is registered with Australian authorities. About 5 per cent of Exit Australia's 3000 members were New Zealanders, he said.
The workshop – the first of a series in Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton and Christchurch – also covered issues relating to which drugs were effective, plastic suicide bags, and cases with which Dr Nitschke had been involved.
Lesley Martin, who is due to appear in Wanganui District Court on Wednesday charged with attempting to murder her terminally ill mother, said MPs should attend Dr Nitschke's workshops to hear about the horrible experiences some people had caring for the terminally ill. "The reality is there have been lots of people who have been in situations like my own," she said.
Out of his battered briefcase Dr Philip Nitschke produces a series of bottles, capsules and gadgets. Out of his mouth comes an endless stream. In a conference room in an Auckland hotel, the scene is a Macabre parody of a pitch by a travelling salesman.
Around a table are 13 people, all of whom, under the rules of this workshop, have been members of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society for at least six months. It would not be a very good look, says the sprightly Jack Jones, spokesman for the Auckland branch, if just anybody turned up, went home and - he drags a long finger across his throat.
Dr Nitschke, Australia's loudest voice in the movement, is a man whose every move is of interest to the law. He plays a game of shifting semantics. The handbook given to every workshop participant includes a disclaimer: "I acknowledge that none of the information provided in this workshop ... will be used in any way to advise, counsel or assist in the act of suicide, either of myself, or any other persons."
Says Dr Nitschke to his laughing audience: "It really says, 'I'm not going to take any notice of what you say'."
It is all a bit of a farce. A farce with a cast of white, mostly elderly, middle-class people.
An order form for the "Aussie Exit Bag" also includes a disclaimer: "I will not use the Aussie Exit Bag in a manner that may harm, injure or cause death to myself or any other person."
At this workshop you may or may not be given precise instructions on how not to use this bag. It is a crime to assist a suicide.
Dr Nitschke walks a fine line: if he gives you information about a drug and you manage to obtain it yourself, has he helped you obtain it? The game continues. Asked if people can sit with you while you end your life, he replies: "I wouldn't advise it." At least, he wouldn't advise admitting that you had done so. Many are shy of giving their names. One woman objects to the Herald photographer. "I'm sorry, there's a man up there who will not go away. I just think it's gross." Which is, when you think about the subject they have come here to discuss, slightly ironic.
Dr Nitschke knows the value of publicity: "It's important to show that this is not a sleazy, backyard operation." But there's none of the sweetening that goes on at events where the hosts are keen for favourable coverage.
Mr Jones has already apologised to the media for a lack of coffee: "You'll be the paupers at the feast."
A snippet of discussion from a strange feast. One man asks: "What about the things some soldiers took in the war?"
A chorus: "Cyanide."
Dr Nitschke: "It's a hard substance to get hold of - unless you're a gold miner. It's not peaceful."
An elderly woman: "I think Goering used it."
Dr Nitschke: "He cheated the executioner."
Bettina Ward says afterwards, "It was a bit strange." But she found it "objective and factual". She is 67 and in perfect health. She decided to go because she lives in "dread of becoming incapacitated". We struggle to find the right word to describe her preference - it's not quite like choosing Tupperware - should the time come, of the options on offer. She thinks the idea of dying inside a plastic bag "horrible". Perhaps the little machine that delivers carbon dioxide. As a delivery system of death, it seems clean and quick.
Nonette Bright has had rheumatoid arthritis for "half my life, darling". She is 76 and knows about pain.
But really she is here because she watched her husband take four years to die. "I said he had died when I had to give him up [to care]." If assisted euthanasia had been legal she would have helped him, she says. "Absolutely."
At the end of it, every person in this room could tell you exactly how to kill yourself. Except, of course, nobody in this room, including me, has taken notice of a word that was said.
Australian voluntary euthanasia advocate Dr Philip Nitschke says plans are in train across the Tasman for a fundraising campaign to help to pay the legal fees of Wanganui woman Lesley Martin. Martin has been charged with attempting to murder her mother, Joy, who had cancer, in May 1999. She faces a depositions hearing in Wanganui District Court beginning next Wednesday. Dr Nitschke, who today starts a nine-day New Zealand programme of workshops and meetings, met Martin in Auckland last night, hours after he arrive from Melbourne.
He said Exit Australia, that country's largest voluntary euthanasia organisation with 3000 members, wanted to assist with Martin's legal bills. "We are interested in making some sort of financial contribution because of the significance of her case for our country," he said. "At the same time, I want to be able, with the trip through New Zealand, to galvanise some sort of fundraising for her here too."
Dr Nitschke's second New Zealand tour will also take him to Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch. Apart from the Martin case, his visit coincides with debate in Parliament, also next Wednesday, on New Zealand First MP Peter Brown's Death Before Dignity Bill. Dr Nitschke said he had had a wide-ranging discussion over several hours with Martin, who was expected to speak at his first public meeting in the inner Auckland suburb of Parnell tonight. They talked about developments in Australia and in New Zealand, and also about her own situation. Dr Nitschke confirmed he would attend the depositions hearing, at which a decision will be made on whether Martin has a case to answer. "She told me how she felt the issue was going to unfold and what her lawyers had told her were the likely outcomes," he said. "She is bearing up pretty well. Within New Zealand she has had a tremendous amount of support. But I don't want to be glib about it. The hard reality of what these events can be like might yet dawn. I've seen in Australia the toll that can be taken when things get protracted, but at this stage she is remarkably positive."
Martin is due to go to Sydney next month for an Exit Australia-organised conference entitled Killing Me Softly: Love, Death and Dying in Australia. While it was an interesting time to be in New Zealand, Dr Nitschke said it was hard to assess whether a law change was in the offing. However, the mere fact that a bill was going to be debated was significant.
"The fact that you have the prime minister and other senior political figures making comments means the climate is right to move the issue along, but you will also see a massing of opposition forces," he said. "I suspect it might be drawing a long bow to say it will lead to a law change, but it might I just don't know. If it does, it will have significant importance for Australia, so we will watching very closely."
Last month, a spokesman for Prime Minister Helen Clark said she supported giving terminally-ill people the right to choose to die with dignity.
The man nicknamed 'Dr Death' claims New Zealand is at the cutting-edge of the euthanasia debate. Philip Nitschke is Australia's euthanasia advocate and inventor of the controversial euthanasia assistance device, the 'exit' bag.
He is in New Zealand for a series of public addresses starting in Auckland tonight. The focus will be teaching people how to get around the law to carry out assisted deaths. He also plans to show the audience how his controversial 'death machine' works. Dr Nitschke says the debate surrounding assisted suicide is gaining momentum around the world, and New Zealand is well involved as it prepares proposed 'death with dignity' euthanasia legislation which is due to go before Parliament. But he says like most countries, New Zealand laws inhibit assisted suicide. Dr Nitschke will also attend the next court appearance of a woman accused of helping her terminally ill mother to commit suicide. Lesley Martin will appear in court for a pre-depositions hearing in Wanganui next week. Meanwhile, Melbourne newspaper, The Age, reports that Dr Nitschke foiled Melbourne customs officers who searched him to find the controversial 'death machine'. The paper says officers went through his bags, computer files and speech notes, but could not find the tubes or other hardware for the carbon monoxide-generating (COgen) machine. Dr Nitschke had taken the precaution of sending the component parts separately, after having the prototype machine and drawstring plastic suicide bags confiscated previously, when he left Australia for the United States.
The machine will cost around $100.
Australian euthanasia advocate Dr Philip Nitschke has foiled the "harassment" of Melbourne customs officers and will show a death machine to an Auckland audience on Thursday. Officers went through his bags, computer files and speech notes, but he was carrying none of the tubes and other hardware for the controversial carbon monoxide-generating (COgen) machine. After having the prototype machine, and drawstring plastic suicide bags, confiscated when he left Australia for the United States in January, he took the precaution of separately sending component parts to New Zealand.
Nitschke said after arriving at Auckland Airport on Wednesday: "I will be able to make some of those things between now and when I first start demonstrating this machine because they are very simple devices to make and that's the whole point. "They have been designed so that individuals can do this themselves."
The machines, which would cost about $NZ100 ($A90), are designed to allow users to die peacefully with a few deep breaths of lethal carbon monoxide through a face mask. Nitschke said he would assemble one overnight to show to reporters and 13 Voluntary Euthanasia Society of Auckland members at a workshop tomorrow that commences his public-speaking tour of New Zealand. During the trip, sponsored by two voluntary euthanasia societies, he will hold public meetings and workshops in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch. He said New Zealand customs officers caused him no problems, but Australia's had singled him out - "it's targeted and it's harassment" - yet he sensed they were supportive of him. An Australian Customs Service spokesman denied Nitschke had been detained. "Dr Nitschke was simply subject to routine outgoing passenger processing".
Australia amended its customs regulations last year to prohibit exportation of devices designed or customised to be used to commit suicide or to assist suicide.
In New Zealand attempting suicide is not a crime, but helping someone to do it is.
Nitschke said it was an interesting time for him to be in New Zealand because assisted suicide issues had been highlighted by the Death with Dignity Bill, now before parliament, and by Lesley Martin, the Wanganui euthanasia advocate charged with trying to kill her terminally ill mother. Nitschke said he intended to meet Martin tonight and wanted to attend a pre-depositions court hearing on her case next Wednesday.
Euthanasia advocate Philip Nitschke was subject to customs questioning early this morning, as he departed Melbourne airport. Dr Nitschke was waiting in a customs queue before boarding a flight to New Zealand on a speaking tour when he was asked to accompany officers to a side room. "I was pulled out of the queue by customs and told to wait because they wanted to take matters further," Dr Nitschke told ABC Radio. "I've got no idea what that means but it's obviously yet again to do with the supposed taking out of devices that might assist in suicide in contravention of these new customs regulations the federal government has brought in." Dr Nitschke said he did not have any suicide devices either with him or in his luggage. Customs officials described the procedure as routine and said no incident was reported. "Dr Nitschke wasn't detained and no goods were removed," the spokesman said this morning. "I'm not aware that his bags were searched. It was a simple matter of being questioned by customs officials," the spokesman said.
In January Dr Nitschke had his prototype death machine confiscated at Sydney Airport, along with a set of drawstring plastic ``exit bags'' as he boarded a flight to the US. The machine, which cost almost $20,000 to develop, is known as COGen. It administers a rapid lethal dose of carbon monoxide through nose tubes to users.
Federal legislation introduced last year prohibits the export or import of products related to suicide.
Dr Death is supporting euthanasia advocate Lesley Martin at her next court appearance on an attempted murder charge.
Exit Australia head Dr Philip Nitschke, nicknamed Dr Death, will take time out of his second euthanasia tour of New Zealand to attend the Wanganui woman's pre-depositions hearing in Wanganui District Court on April 9.
While in the country, he also plans to build one of his controversial carbon monoxide death machines to show along with his plastic suffocation bags at workshops and public meetings in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch. And he will investigate producing the plastic 'exit' bags here.
Three weeks ago, Lesley Martin was charged with attempting to murder her terminally-ill mother, Joy, in 1999. Police began investigating last year after she revealed in her book To Die Like a Dog that she gave her mother a morphine overdose and smothered her with a pillow.
"What she has done is to say very openly what she has done - we as a society keep sticking our head in the sand over the issue of euthanasia," Nitschke said. "She needs as much support as she can get."
Exit Australia has launched an appeal to help Martin cover legal expenses. Straight after her court appearance, she and Nitschke will drive to Wellington to attend the first reading of New Zealand First MP Peter Brown's private member's bill "Death with Dignity" in parliament that afternoon.
"It's worked out really well for my trip," Nitschke says of the timing.
Martin plans to speak at some workshops and public meetings after a court-imposed order gagging her from talking publicly about euthanasia was lifted last week.
Nitschke, who arrives in Auckland on Wednesday for his 12-day tour, is no stranger to police attention. He remains under investigation over the death of a terminally-ill Queensland woman who took her life in front of 21 people. His first workshop will be in Auckland on Thursday morning for Voluntary Euthanasia Society members only, but he will hold a public meeting at 7.30pm that day at the Quality Inn Rosepark hotel in Parnell. The controversial GP hopes his visit will add extra momentum to the euthanasia debate, which has heated up in New Zealand in recent months.
"Australia used to lead the world in euthanasia, but now we're dragging behind."
He helped four people die by lethal injection in Australia's Northern Territory before the state's euthanasia laws were overturned in 1997 after nine months in force. The state's legalising euthanasia law was a world-first.
New tougher customs laws make it impossible for him to bring one of the Australian-designed carbon monoxide generators with him, which give off toxic fumes. It is illegal to export or import devices from Australia, which are designed to assist suicide. Instead, he plans to build one using basic hardware store supplies, a bag of saline with an intravenous attachment and nasal prongs plus some "easily obtained" chemicals. "It should only take a couple of hours and shows how simple it is to make. It offers a quick, reliable death," he said. While it will be shown in his workshops as an example, he has no plans to teach people how to make them.
"What drives these developments is because there is no legislation. People want legislation to allow them to have a peaceful death."
Australian law also prevents him bringing over any `exit' bags, a plastic bag with an elastic cuff, which fits over the head. He says people die peacefully from oxygen deprivation within about half an hour. A handful of New Zealanders have ordered them through his Australian euthanasia group, which produces them. Nitschke is aware of the legal ramifications of promoting euthanasia. All workshop attendees get a do-it-yourself handbook but must sign a disclaimer, stating none of the information will be used to advise, counsel or assist them or others to commit suicide.
"We're just trying to give accurate information so they can make informed decisions," Nitschke said.
Lesley Martin can resume her campaign to legalise euthanasia after a gagging order was lifted in the Wanganui District Court yesterday. Martin, charged with attempting to kill her ill mother, Joy, was banned earlier this month from speaking to the media. The order, part of her bail conditions by Judge Gregory Ross, prevented Ms Martin from talking publicly on any subject. She still cannot discuss her case, but can talk generally about the right-to-die debate. The new bail conditions forbid Ms Martin from discussing publicly or with the media the proceedings before the court or otherwise justifying her own actions concerning the alleged attempts to kill her mother. Ms Martin was given permission to leave New Zealand for Australia between May 27 and June 3. She intends to speak at an International Voluntary Euthanasia conference.
Almost all of the 120 Auckland GPs in the survey correctly said it was illegal to perform euthanasia or help patients commit suicide. But 18 per cent wrongly thought it was legal to supply information on how to commit suicide and 25 percent were unsure on the legality of supplying drugs to do it. The figures were produced by Auckland University psychology lecturer Kay Mitchell, who last week revealed survey results that in one year 39 GPs had performed euthanasia or helped a patient commit suicide. Dr Mitchell expects these practices are more widespread than revealed in her survey because its questions were restricted to the last patient death the GP had been involved with in the preceding 12 months. Figures Dr Mitchell released yesterday were based on responses in 2000 to a hypothetical euthanasia/doctor-assisted suicide scenario from 120 Auckland GPs, 595 Grey Power members and 205 psychology students. The patient in the scenario has a terminal illness and constant pain not alleviated by drugs. The patient asks a doctor for information on how to end life and to prescribe drugs to do it; the doctor complies. Some time later the patient deteriorates, is unable to take the drugs alone and seeks help from the doctor, who holds the drinking cup containing them. Finally, the patient has difficulty swallowing and asks for a lethal injection, which the doctor administers.
Dr Mitchell said she was surprised that 30 per cent of the GPs judged it would be justified for the doctor to give the lethal injection. But she was not surprised at the responses from the other groups. More than 76 percent of the Grey Power respondents and around 60 percent of the students judged all of the doctor's actions to be justified. "This suggests that older people may be more pragmatic and liberal about end-of-life decision-making." She said her findings about lay people lined up with earlier research. "Polls in New Zealand for the last 20 years have indicated that more than 70 percent of New Zealanders would like the option of physician-assisted death for a terminally ill patient with intractable pain."
Parliament is scheduled today to debate the Death with Dignity Bill that would legalise doctor-assisted suicide for terminally or incurably ill people.
The Medical Association is opposed to the bill, fearing it could lead to pressure for doctor-assisted suicide to be legalised for a widening range of people. It and the World Medical Association hold euthanasia unethical. Hospice New Zealand, which represents the country's 37 hospices, has opposed the bill in a letter to MPs. "We believe most people would not choose euthanasia if they knew what quality hospice palliative care was and ... that the option existed for them," said the organisation's chief executive, Ann Martin. The Government did not provide or pay for enough high-quality palliative care, she said.
The survey:
120 GPs replied to the survey that described a hypothetical euthanasia scenario in which a doctor gives a lethal injection to a patient who requested it.
30 percent said the doctor was justified.
The same view was expressed by 76 percent of a group of Grey Power members and 62 percent of a group of psychology students.
Wanganui euthanasia campaigner Lesley Martin has appealed against bail conditions that prevent her publicising her views or marketing her book. Martin has been remanded on bail on a charge of attempting to murder her mother Joy Martin in May 1999. Joy Martin was wracked with cancer at the time of her death. Martin told the story of her mother's death in her book, To Die Like a Dog, published last year. A Wanganui court official said yesterday the appeal against Martin's bail conditions had been sent to the High Court at Wellington because the next sitting in Wanganui would not be until June.
In Wellington, High Court criminal case flow manager Greg Millard said he was expecting the appeal but it had not arrived yesterday. The hearing of the appeal would basically be an argument between a lawyer for the crown and Martin's lawyer. She would not be required to attend. Mr Millard was not sure how long the hearing would take, but said it would possibly draw in the Bill of Rights Act and Bail Act. He was also not sure when the appeal would be heard, but doubted it would happen this week.
If her bail conditions remain unchanged, Martin may not be able to speak publicly, as planned, during Australian euthanasia campaigner Philip Nitschke's New Zealand tour next month or at a Sydney conference in May.
She is to appear for a pre-depositions hearing in Wanganui District Court on April 9.
A pro-euthanasia group yesterday called for a national debate on euthanasia as Parliament prepared to consider the Death with Dignity Bill. The Voluntary Euthanasia Society has written to MPs seeking support for the bill and urged the public to lobby MPs to vote the bill through to select committee hearings, which are open to public submissions.
New Zealand First MP Peter Brown's member's bill was introduced to the House on March 6. It calls for two independent medical opinions, mandatory counselling with a psychologist or psychiatrist, a mandatory stand-down period, and a minimum age of 18, before a person can access the provisions of the bill and seek help to die.
A MELBOURNE man has pleaded guilty to assisting his sick wife's suicide using a death device.
During a brief hearing in the Melbourne Magistrates Court today, Scottish-born Alexander Maxwell, 55, entered a guilty plea to a charge of aiding and abetting suicide, after a murder charge was withdrawn. Maxwell's wife, Margaret, had suffered from cancer for nine years before she died on October 9 last year. The couple chose a caravan park on Phillip Island, a favourite holiday spot, as the venue for the assisted suicide. They used a plastic bag filled with helium, based on a device outlined in a recently published book Final Exit by Derek Humphry, it is alleged.
The device was based on the COGen machine (carbon monoxide generator) and exit bags developed by Australian euthanasia campaigner Dr Philip Nitschke.
After his wife died, Maxwell phoned a funeral home, which then alerted police. He remains on bail until a plea hearing in the Supreme Court on 23/04/2003.
A woman charged with the attempted murder of her sick mother will have a well known euthanasia campaigner by her side at her next court appearance. Lesley Martin was charged yesterday after a 10 month police investigation into her mother's death in 1999.
Australia's Dr Philip Nitschke - who has been dubbed Dr Death - will be at her appearance next week. Dr Nitschke says the appearance coincides with a public speaking tour around New Zealand. Meanwhile, MP's will debate the issue in Parliament over the next month, after New Zealand First MP Peter Brown's euthanasia bill was drawn from the ballot.
Right-to-die campaigner Lesley Martin was arrested today and charged with the attempted murder of her mother. Martin said in her book To Die Like a Dog that she tried to help her mother, cancer patient Joy Martin, to die in 1998. She appeared in the Wanganui District Court today, where she entered no plea and was released on bail on conditions which included not speaking to the media.
A DECISION on whether charges will be laid against the 21 people who witnessed Gold Coast grandmother Nancy Crick commit suicide last year could be known within a month, Queensland's Director of Public Prosecutions, Leanne Clare, said yesterday. The breakthrough in the 10-month saga came as 92-year-old retired farmer Fred Short identified himself as one of those who watched Crick drink a lethal cocktail of barbiturates.
Mr Short told The Australian he was proud to be there and said he was tired of waiting to be charged. "I'm fed up with how we are treated as though we have committed some sort of crime," Mr Short said. "I have seen quite a bit of death in my time and have never seen anyone die with the grace that she did. "I don't mind being numbered amongst those who were with Nancy when she died."
The issue of whether those present should be charged with assisting a suicide -- an offence which carries a maximum life sentence in Queensland -- is currently with Ms Clare. She hoped to give her final advice to police in the next month. The decision to lay charges will then rest with the police. "I will finalise my advice when I have all of the information that I require to make an informed decision," Ms Clare said.
Of the 21 people present at Crick's death on May 22 last year, only John Edge, the Queensland co-ordinator of pro-euthanasia group Exit Australia, has previously confirmed he was among those present. But according to Crick's doctor, Philip Nitschke, the others are now keen to speak out. "The 21 didn't do this to be muzzled for a year," Dr Nitschke said. "They did it because they wanted to bring this issue out into the open."
Mr Short said Crick had a "wonderful death". He said she kissed all her supporters before calmly heading to her room and getting into bed. "I remember her saying 'no more pain' -- and asking for a cigarette. After a couple of minutes, it just dropped from her fingers. That was it."
Crick's youngest son Daryle also confirmed yesterday he was present at his mother's "peaceful" death. Mr Crick said he left the room in tears several times before she died. "Then I gave her a kiss goodnight and turned off the light," he said.
Mr Short, who admitted to police soon after Crick's death that he was present, remains proud of what he did. "I feel that we are just sitting around with something hanging over our heads," he said. "We are sick of waiting. If the police have got anything against us, I would welcome the chance to say what I think."
Mr Edge, who said he would wear any charges as "a badge of honour", doubts whether the 21 witnesses should have obeyed legal advice to stay quiet. "It's my opinion that we made a fundamental blunder by not getting up and saying we were there," he said. "This is unfinished business and I want it to be sorted out."
LEGISLATION allowing voluntary euthanasia for the terminally ill may be debated this year in State Parliament.
Legislative Council leader Kim Chance said he hoped a reform of Upper House sitting hours would soon see time set aside each week to debate non-Government Bills. Assuming it did, voluntary euthanasia legislation introduced by Greens (WA) MLC Robin Chapple would probably be among the private member's Bills debated. Mr Chance said his personal view was that euthanasia was an issue society needed to understand.
"It is obviously a difficult question for many members and people in the community, but I think it's one we have got to try to come to terms with," he said.
But given the long list of Government legislation waiting to be debated in the House, the Bill was not a Government priority. Premier Geoff Gallop has said the Labor Party would allow a debate and conscience vote on euthanasia if one of the other parties put a Bill before Parliament. Mr Chapple said there was broad community support for voluntary euthanasia and people wanted a debate. It was clear that suicides were occurring, particularly among the aged, which caused a great deal of trauma for surviving family members and potential legal risk for medical professionals.
Instead of being forced into bizarre means of taking their lives there should be a dignified process for those who, because of a clinical condition, were at the end of their tether and felt enough was enough. Euthanasia advocate Philip Nitschke said he had also found strong support in WA. He was next due in Perth in May and about 60 people had already booked to do his workshops, which were usually attended by people who were not sick but wanted information. Six people who were quite ill and wanted to discuss their options had booked in as clinic patients. WA Voluntary Euthanasia Society president Ralph White said his group had been pressing for a debate on the subject for 23 years. But Parliament should pass laws wider than Mr Chapple proposed. There were many people not terminally ill but suffered with conditions from which they were not expected to recover. They also should have the option of euthanasia.
A Westpoll last year found 74 per cent of the people surveyed supported voluntary euthanasia. Mr Chapple's Bill would allow terminally ill people to make legally binding plans for their deaths. They would be allowed to choose how they died and arrange it six months in advance. They would have to be mentally competent, there would be steps to ensure their consent was authentic and a cooling-off period would apply. Anyone witnessing or assisting a death would be protected from prosecution.