Exit News & Forum

Man on trial for helping friend's death

Sydney Morning Herald
Nathan Paull
February 3, 2012

AAP

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/man-on-trial-for-helping-friends-death-20120203-1qxbe.html

A man accused of helping an elderly friend to kill himself met with a right-to-die advocacy group to learn how, a Brisbane court has been told.

Merin Nielsen, 50, of Mt Nebo west of Brisbane, is on trial in the Supreme Court for aiding the suicide of his 76-year-old friend Frank Ward.

Mr Ward was found dead in his Clayfield unit on Brisbane's northside on June 20, 2009, after allegedly taking a high dose of a drug normally used to euthanase animals, which was not available in Australia.

Advertisement: Story continues below The court heard on Friday that Nielsen and Mr Ward had met two members of Nancy's Friends - a subgroup of euthanasia advocacy organisation Exit International - to learn how to assist in a suicide, and Nielsen had taken notes during the two meetings, in 2007 and 2008.

However, the two witnesses - Beryl Morman, 74, and Bronley Norman, 68 - both told the court they could barely remember meeting with Nielsen and Mr Ward.

They both also refused to answer specific questions about what was discussed in the meetings in case it incriminated them.

It is illegal in Queensland to assist someone to commit suicide or provide any advice or counselling about how to do so.

Both said they had required Mr Ward and Nielsen to sign waivers before the meeting stating they would not put the advice they had received into practice.

Queensland Police Acting Sergeant Jeremy Hunter told the court he was one of the first on the scene and found Mr Ward's wallet, which had a card inside indicating Merin should be contacted in an emergency.

Sgt Hunter said he had called Nielsen, who had admitted he had been with Mr Ward only hours before he was found dead in his loungeroom.

He said Nielsen had told him he was a good friend of Mr Ward and was made a beneficiary in his will, but did not mention anything about the method Mr Ward used to kill himself.

"(Nielsen) stated to me he (Mr Ward) was in good spirits and was very philosophical and talkative about life," he said.

The high-profile case has prompted right-to-die campaigner Phillip Nitschke to visit Brisbane on Saturday to teach the sick and elderly how to dodge Queensland's assisted suicide laws.

The trial will resume on Monday.

© 2012 AAP

 

Dr Philip Nitschke under investigation over death of woman

Kim Wheatley
The Advertiser
January 23, 2012

Euthanasia campaigner Dr Philip Nitschke is being investigated by medical authorities after the death of a terminally ill woman in Victor Harbor. Source: The Advertiser

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/dr-philip-nitschke-under-investigation-over-death-of-woman/story-e6frea6u-1226250785808

MEDICAL authorities are investigating euthanasia campaigner Dr Philip Nitschke following the death of a terminally ill Victor Harbor woman.

An investigator has been appointed to determine if it was "good medical practice" for Dr Nitschke to attempt to legally import the death drug Nembutal as a sedative for the woman, 61, who had spoken of ending her life to escape "an awful death".

The investigator is working for the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency and the Medical Board of Australia, which has the power to revoke medical licences.

Police attached to the Coroner's office will also interview Dr Nitschke to determine if he played any role in the woman's death last month.

In a letter, the former secondary school teacher says she obtained illegal death drugs herself and she resented that this had turned her into a "criminal".

The woman, whose family has requested anonymity, was diagnosed with motor neurone disease last May and her condition deteriorated rapidly. At the end she was unable to speak, had limited mobility and was fed via a tube.

In the note, she wrote of her intense frustration caused by a lack of sleep.

She used an iPad with voice software and a computer to communicate. "My decision to end my suffering, rather than waiting for the disease to finally take hold of me is a long and considered one," the woman wrote in a signed 1½-page, typed letter that is dated December 9, three days before her death.

"Motor neurone disease is an awful disease. It deprives a person of their dignity and their independence. To get this drug in these final weeks of my life, I have been turned into a criminal. Yet I have never before broken a law in my life. I resent this state of affairs.

"In deciding to end my suffering, I hereby state this act is by my own hand. I am assisted by no one; neither by Dr Philip Nitschke, my sisters or friends or any other person."

In her letter, the woman says she contacted Dr Nitschke within two weeks of her diagnosis to obtain sodium pentobarbital or Nembutal to help her sleep because "I cannot sleep ... my energy levels are down, my mood is low and I cannot live life to the fullest in the precious time I have left".

When she took delivery of the drugs, she states that she "immediately felt a weight lift from my shoulders" because the drugs had given her back her independence.

In September, the Therapeutic Goods Administration told Dr Nitschke that he was able to legally import sodium pentobarbital to help the woman sleep under the Special Access Scheme.

But according to Exit International, it was a lengthy administration process to fulfil the criteria and the drug has not yet been imported.

Dr Nitschke, who is refusing to speak about the matter, has written to the AHPRA arguing that it was "good medical practice" to prescribe Nembutal to a patient experiencing considerable difficulty sleeping after already using available medications.

He has also stated the woman was not prescribed sodium pentobarbital.

Exit International executive director Dr Fiona Stewart said that it was tragic that the TGA program was taking too long so "(the woman) was forced to take matters into her own hands".

"At Exit, access to a barbiturate like Nembutal is not only about a good night's sleep. It is also about relieving what you might call the existential suffering," she said.

The woman's sister, who found her body propped up on pillows in her bedroom, said she knew nothing of the drugs her sister had obtained.

But she said that as a fiercely independent person she was often having items delivered. "She obviously arranged it herself ... he (Dr Nitschke) had no involvement at all," the sister said.

"Seeing her with a feeding tube was heartbreaking. Towards the end she was virtually starving to death ... she was just over 40 kilos."

AHPRA and the Coroner's office would not comment.

- If you need help, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.

 

PLEASE LET ME DIE

The Sunday Times
SUN 22 JAN 2012,
 
By John Mooney


John Allen knows it is only a matter of time before he is confined to a wheelchair. The 49-year-old former computer programmer from Mayfield in Cork city suffers from a degenerative joint disease affecting his knees, hips, hands and ankles. The disease is causing his bones to disintegrate, and has now spread to his spine.

"I'm in constant pain and taking heavy medication to make life tolerable. I have a wheelchair, but I'm not using it. The doctors have told me to stay standing for as long as I can, but the pain is overwhelming," he said.
Allen no longer thinks medicine can stop the spread of the disease.

"It's an insidious condition. I don't want to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair, living in crippling pain. Suicide is what I'm planning to do. I understand this scares people, but I want the choice to die at a time of my own choosing," he said.

"If my quality of life reaches the stage where I'm bed-ridden, I'd rather die. I don't want to be left unable to walk, in chronic pain, so I'm planning ahead."

When he cannot take any more of the pain, Allen intends to swallow a lethal dose of Nembutal, a powerful barbiturate used by vets to put animals to sleep.

He is not afraid of "moving on" but does worry about the timing. "Do I wait and let my condition worsen and allow it to develop into a situation whereby I might need someone to help me to die? If I wait and ask my wife to help, I'll be putting her in a position where she could be prosecuted by the gardai."
The Criminal Law (Suicide) Act 1993, which decriminalised suicide, states that anyone who aids, abets, counsels or procures the suicide of another is guilty of an offence which carries a penalty of up to 14 years' imprisonment.

"If my wife helps me to die, she could be prosecuted. I have very strong views on this. I believe the situation that we find ourselves in is disgusting," Allen said.

THE legislative change in 1993 made no provision for people to provide assistance to those who wish to die and who are physically unable to end their own lives.

Simon Mills, a barrister who specialises in medical law, described the current situation as unclear. "There are two aspects to this: what the law says and what it means," he said.
"For example, if a person is disabled and wants to commit suicide, and the medicine they wish to use is in the next room, if someone goes and gets it, is that person aiding and abetting a suicide? I don't know the answer.

"The law says it's a crime to aid and abet, but we don't know what it actually means to aid and abet a suicide. The reality is that a significantly disabled person, who wishes to commit suicide and who will not be criminalised if they do, cannot do so because they are disabled.
Meanwhile, an able-bodied person who wishes to commit suicide and does not need anyone's help, can do so legally."

Mills said the situation could be described as discriminatory, but there were other legal complexities. "If the help you wish to give someone to commit suicide, which is a legal act, involves taking them out of the jurisdiction to another country where assisted suicide is legal, is that an unlawful act? There is no clarity about what extent the law will permit assistance to be given, and at what point the law will prosecute, but I know of situations where gardai are intervening when people attempt to help loved ones to travel abroad to end their own lives."

The barrister said Irish courts traditionally made a clear distinction between steps taken by people to ensure that the life of a terminally ill person would not be prolonged, and steps which involved the act of ending or shortening a life.

"There is a clear moral difference between acting in support of a terminally ill person who is compos mentis, and all of those awful scenarios like involuntary euthanasia. Assisted suicide exists in a significantly different moral sphere because it's taking steps in partnership with someone who is dying. It's hard to imagine anything further removed from murder," Mills said.

Despite assisted suicide being a criminal offence, Irish people are going abroad to end their lives. Assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and in some American states. In most countries, the practice is restricted to people with incurable diseases and applicants must be permanent residents. Switzerland is unique in allowing groups such as Dignitas to expedite the death of almost anyone.

Some people who do not have the financial resources to travel abroad, or have been stopped from doing so by gardai, are killing themselves in their own homes, usually with the help of others who risk a jail sentence if caught.

Gardai in Dublin are pursuing an assisted-suicide investigation after Bernadette Ford from Donnybrook was found dead at her home last June. Weeks earlier, she was warned by gardai against travelling to a Swiss euthanasia clinic with a friend. Ford was approached by detectives at a Dublin travel agency as she and the friend collected tickets for flights to Zurich, where she planned to end her life at a centre run by Dignitas. Her companion was told she could be arrested and jailed if she helped her friend to die.

The couple abandoned their journey but Ford subsequently died after consuming a cocktail of drugs, and left a note saying she had acted alone. Investigators suspect it may have been a ploy to ensure nobody else could be prosecuted.

In Britain, where writer Terry Pratchett has been leading a campaign to legalise assisted suicide, prosecutors are advised to follow a set of guidelines aimed at ensuring that people who act with compassion are not put on trial. However, assisted suicide is still illegal there.
The guidelines, published two years ago, urge prosecutors to avoid cases where someone is helped to die by a relative if their wishes are clear and not subject to influence. Britain's Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) issued the guidelines after a ruling by the Law Lords in a case brought by Debbie Purdy, a multiple sclerosis sufferer who asked for guidance on whether her husband would be prosecuted if he helped end her life.

No such guidelines exist in Ireland, according to Tom Curran, a former IT specialist from Wicklow who is now a full-time carer for his wife, Marie, who has multiple sclerosis. After he addressed a public meeting on the issue, the authorities warned Curran that he could be prosecuted if he complied with his wife's wishes by helping her to commit suicide.

"I was invited into Wicklow garda station after I mentioned our plans. There was a view that I was just putting this out there, because I had some ulterior motive. The gardai even did a financial check to see if I would benefit from Marie's death," he said.

"The state, through the Heath Service Executive, did a psychological investigation into Marie's mental state. They sent out a psychologist to see if Marie was sane. They concluded she was."
Curran said he had already made the decision to do "whatever is required of him" rather than let his wife suffer once she wishes to end her life.

"If she is in such pain that she can no longer tolerate it, then I have a duty to help her die if that's what she wishes. I love Marie. I often try to detach myself from it, almost as if I'm talking about someone else, because that's the only way I can cope. But when Marie asks me, I will do it," he said.

"She is angry about the fact that disability is robbing her of her choice, because suicide is legal. But her illness has reached the point where she could not do it herself, so she would need my help. I am fearful of what will happen, that I could spend 14 years in jail. I have often thought that surely the easiest thing would be for me to go with her, as I can't imagine putting my family through a criminal trial."

Curran said the threat of prosecution under the 1993 act was encouraging some terminally ill people to end their lives prematurely. "I know two people who travelled to Switzerland because they feared that if they didn't go while they could travel alone, they wouldn't find anyone who could take them," he said.

Curran, a campaigner for Exit International, a pro-choice group, believes that opposition to assisted suicide is rooted in the Christian belief in the sanctity of life.

Eight Irish people have travelled to Switzerland in the past two years to end their lives at clinics run by Dignitas. Silvan Luley, a spokesman for the group, is critical of the government's position on the issue. "Why is it ignoring people's right to end their life self-determinedly in a safe and dignified manner at their homes and forcing them to travel abroad instead? Is such an approach dignified?" he said.

Dan Neville, a Limerick TD who is the president of the Irish Association of Suicidology, insists the issues are far more complex. "If you introduce assisted suicide in a limited way, the boundaries would inevitably change. If people feel they are a burden to their relatives or the system, they could choose to die. They might feel obliged to relieve their families or the system of their presence," he said. "Could the state deem people who are terminally ill as people who simply cost too much to care for? "While I'm not saying they would proactively suggest suicide, the system could develop an attitude towards such people which could put subtle pressure on them to decide that the most advantageous thing for everyone, including themselves, would be to die. Would inheritances ever come into play among families confronted by this issue, I wonder?" Neville sympathised with terminally ill people who wished to end their lives. "I understand where they are coming from, but we need to think about society and its broader implications," he said.

A spokesman for Alan Shatter, the justice minister, last week said that there were no plans to amend the 1993 act to enable people to assist relatives or friends to end their lives. If charged, those convicted of aiding or abetting a suicide will continue to face a 14-year prison sentence, if convicted.

'' THE GARDAI EVEN DID A CHECK TO SEE WHETHER I WOULD BENEFIT FROM MY WIFE'S DEATH
Caption:  John Allen plans to take his life rather than suffer from his degenerative disease, but does not want to place his wife in legal jeopardy
 

 
SUN 22 JAN 2012
Doctor 
to test 
deadly 
drugs 
By Todd Cardy 

Dr Nitschke, who will return to Perth this week for the first time in a year, said packages of the preferred suicide drug Nembutal had been ``flooding in'' to Australia, mainly from China.

He said there had been a surge in interest for information on euthanasia from terminally ill WA people.
The increasing interest, coupled with the ``relative ease'' of ordering the drug online, had prompted his decision to launch a testing program and he will hold a public meeting/workshop at Wembley Community Centre on Wednesday.

Nembutal is banned in Australia except for veterinary use and it is illegal to import it without permission.
Right to Life Association WA president Peter O'Meara urged police to charge Dr Nitschke or any others who imported or possessed illegal suicide drugs.

The Sunday Times was awaiting WA Police comment. 
 

Suicide drug flooding into Britain from China

Support for Exit from Territory Sex Party

Northern Territroy News

FRI 04 NOV 2011

THE Territory Sex Party supports a push by right-to-die advocate Philip Nitschke to reintroduce voluntary euthanasia.
Spokeswoman Seranna Shutt said Territorians should have the same rights as animals.

``If an animal is in pain and going to die you would not make it go through pointless pain,'' she said. ``Humans should be treated no differently.''

She said the party has urged the NT Government to reintroduce voluntary euthanasia laws after new legislation that restricts the Federal Government's veto powers.

Decide now to exit in peace  & Prepare for inevitable: Nitschke

Gold Coast Sun
WED 02 NOV 2011,

THE need to prepare for death will be the hot topic at a voluntary euthanasia seminar with Exit International founder Dr
Philip Nitschke on Saturday.

Dr Nitschke (pictured) will lead a public forum of about 100 people at the Carrara Community Centre to discuss what people should do if they want the right to die.
He will also discuss why the terminally ill should not leave decisions to the last minute and the legal issues their family and friends may face.

The public seminar will be followed by an Exit International meeting for members and will be restricted to those who are over 55, or are very sick.

Gold Coast Exit International co-ordinator Elaine Arch-Rowe said the ageing population and high numbers of retirees on the Coast had increased the group's membership.
She said the average age of members was 65 but people did not need to be sick or dying to join.
Illus: Photo


Decide now to exit in peace
Gold Coast Sun
THU 03 NOV 2011
By TANYA MARSCHKE marschket@goldcoast.com.au


SOUTHPORT'S Jill Kleinman watched her husband die slowly and painfully from cancer.
That's why she believes her ``best friend'' deserved the right to choose to take his own life.

After her husband passed, Mrs Kleinman heard voluntary euthanasia campaigner Dr Philip Nitschke speak and she has been a member of Exit International ever since.

``My husband died 11-and-a-half years ago - he was absolutely riddled with cancer,'' she said.
``I heard Dr Nitschke speak and I thought that was how my husband Danny should have gone.
``He died by slow euthanasia - they kept upping the morphine.
``I was with him when he went but he didn't know I was there. It was heart-breaking.''

Years later, Mrs Kleinman's best friend, 82-year-old Patsy Spencer, committed suicide by taking a fatal dose of euthanasia drug, Nembutal.

``She lived in the same retirement village as me and she was definitely losing her marbles,'' Mrs Kleinman said.
``She was aware that she had early onset dementia and she was getting slightly paranoid - she didn't want to go completely

gaga.
``I believe she also had cancer and if she did she would have had a very painful death.
``I know she was very ill.''

Mrs Kleinman said Patsy wasn't herself towards the end and, in the last few months, she really went downhill.
``I saw her after she died when the police were there and she looked so peaceful and beautiful - she had applied makeup before she died.
``My advice is to join Exit International while you are in charge of all your faculties.
``You have to be prepared to do it yourself, there is no legal way someone can help you.''

Exit International
Call: 1300 103 948

Caption:  Jill Kleinman's husband Danny had a slow death from cancer.
Illus:  Photo

Gold Coast Sun
03 NOV 2011,
FAST FACTS

The Gold Coast Medical Association refuses to take a stance when it comes to voluntary euthanasia.
Association president Dr Peter McLaren (pictured) said it was up to each member to form their own opinion when it came to conscience issues.
But he supports it on a personal level.
 

END

No end in sight for his mission

Gold Coast Sun
THU 06 OCT 2011,

 
By TANYA MARSCHKE
marschket@goldcoast.com.au

IT is not easy to help someone end their life - just ask voluntary euthanasia advocate, Dr Philip Nitschke.

Dr Nitschke is known as the first doctor in the world to give a legal, voluntary lethal injection to a dying patient.

He is headed to the Gold Coast as part of his controversial campaign to enshrine in law the right for terminally ill people to end their own lives at a time of their choosing.

Dr Nitschke was involved in the first legal voluntary euthanasia death when he helped Northern Territory cancer sufferer Bob Dent die on September 2, 1996.

``It was extremely difficult to think about,'' he said.
``I ended up building a machine that enabled him to press the button.
``I came around to his house, he said he would have lunch and then he would die - I was by myself, it was a stressful time.''
Dr Nitschke said the machine asked two questions about whether the patient wanted to die and gave a final warning. It required three presses of the button.
The warning said: ``If you press this button you will die.''
``He died in his wife's arms,'' Dr Nitschke said.
Four people used Dr Nitschke's machine, now in a British museum, before the Northern Territory law was repealed in 1997.
Dr Nitschke said he had just started working as a doctor in the Northern Territory when the possibility of legalising euthanasia was being discussed.

``I was taken aback by the strong opposition from the medical association,'' he said.

Rejecting assertions that all doctors opposed euthanasia, Dr Nitschke and about 20 other doctors decided to take out an advertisement in a Darwin paper saying they supported voluntary euthanasia and his involvement grew from there. ``We did get the law through,'' he said.

Dr Nitschke said he became involved because he thought it was the right thing to do but he only started working with terminally ill people after announcing his support for voluntary euthanasia.

When the Northern Territory law was overturned, Dr Nitschke formed Exit International to give practical advice and work on the political campaign to once again legalise voluntary euthanasia.
It has branches throughout Australia, including one on the Gold Coast.
``Overturning the law hasn't stopped people from turning up at the door,'' he said.

Exit International seminar
Carrara Community Centre
Saturday, November 5, 1pm

Exit International: 1300 103 948

Caption:  Dr Philip Nitschke will speak at a Gold Coast seminar in his continued efforts to legalise euthanasia
 

Bids to change laws increase


VOLUNTARY euthanasia is illegal in all states and territories in Australia but attempts are being made in South Australia and Tasmania to change these laws.

A Bill has been put to the South Australian Parliament to provide a medical defence for doctors who provide treatment which shortens a patient's life.

Euthanasia advocate Dr Philip Nitschke said multiple Bills had been put to the South Australian Parliament in the past and although all had failed, the outcome had been closer each time.

He said there was no movement to legalise voluntary euthanasia in Queensland and those caught helping someone commit suicide could face life in jail.

END