The Right to Die Society of Canada was the first group to market the bag and an instruction booklet in 1997 and the bags have since been widely distributed around the world.<\/p>\n
Many Australians have ordered them by mail, paying US$46 for the kit. But all this came to an abrupt end in 2001 when the US anti-euthanasia campaigner Wesley J. Smith visited Australia.<\/p>\n
With sympathetic front-page coverage from the staunchly Catholic journalist Denis Shanahan, The Australian<\/em> revealed the importation of the Canadian bags into Australia was occurring.<\/p>\n Florid in style, Shanahan\u2019s article demonstrated only an elementary understanding of the science of the bags: \u2018The suicide bags, reminiscent of the Khmer Rouge\u2019s shopping bag executions in Cambodia\u2019s killing fields, are mailed directly to applicants in a plain white envelope\u2019.<\/p>\n Intended or not, the factual errors and sensationalist slant of the story were enough to create a moral panic; one that led Justice and Customs Minister Chris Ellison to call for an urgent report from Customs to determine whether there were grounds to prevent the importation of the bags. The very next day Ellison was reported as saying: \u2018I would remind anyone considering the importation of these kits that aiding and abetting or inciting the killing of a person is a criminal offence in all states and territories\u2019.<\/p>\n All this occurred within a week of Shanahan\u2019s article, confirming that the government can respond quickly when it wants to.<\/p>\n The Exit Bag’s Role in Australian Law Reform, as instigated by Chris Ellison, spelt the end for the importation of the Canadian bag.<\/p>\n While there was some doubt whether Customs could actually detect the arrival of such bags, the threat was enough to put an end to the trade as Exit advised its members of Ellison\u2019s warnings on the issue.<\/p>\n When Exit was contacted by a number of elderly members who said they had changed their minds about ordering the Canadian bag, we set about developing our own. Modelled on the Canadian version, the Australian Exit Bag is made of thick plastic and has an adjustable soft-neck opening consisting of material with elastic attached.<\/p>\n It is important to note that while an Exit bag may not look very attractive, it is a reliable method of \u2018self-deliverance\u2019. A low oxygen death is peaceful. More common \u2018hypoxic\u2019 deaths are those caused by a lung infection (pneumonia \u2013 the old person\u2019s friend) or the sudden depressurisation of an airplane, where whole aircrews occasionally die as if in their sleep.<\/p>\n This is not a violent death from a mechanical obstruction of one\u2019s airway. A person using an Exit Bag breathes easily with the oxygen concentration in the inhaled air decreasing until unconsciousness and death result.<\/p>\n To suppress the arousal produced by the raised concentration of carbon dioxide in the bag and low oxygen levels, sleeping tablets are taken prior and the bag positioned so that it only functions once sleep comes.<\/p>\n For an Exit Bag to work as planned, skill is required.<\/p>\n In the United States and Canada, the bag is often used in combination with helium gas. This gas improves the efficiency of the bag, since the helium displaces the oxygen so that hypoxia and death occur in a matter of minutes. In America, disposable helium canisters are readily available in supermarkets, but in Australia helium is only available in leased high-pressure cylinders.<\/p>\n The resulting paper trail can legally complicate the process.<\/p>\n The Exit Bag’s Role in Australian Law Reform is a minor but interesting footnote to the history of the global right to die movement.<\/p>\n *Note this article was first published in 2005. The technical information it contains is no longer correct.<\/em><\/p>\n The acquisition of helium is not the only legal issue that should be considered in regard to the use of plastic bags to cause death.<\/p>\n In Canada \u2013 the \u2018home\u2019 of the customised Exit Bag \u2013 a prominent member of the Right-to-die Network (the organisation that distributes the bags) has recently been charged with two counts of assisted suicide.<\/p>\n Evelyn Martens<\/a>, a 74-year-old pensioner, was formally charged with assisting and counselling two people to suicide in January and July 2003. They were a 64-year-old former nun, Monique Charest, and 57-year-old teacher, Leyanne Burchell of Vancouver.<\/p>\n The evidence gathered against Martens included the discovery of a supply of helium, plastic tubing and plastic bags to these women.<\/p>\n Martens was charged following an undercover operation whereby a Canadian policewoman posed undercover as the goddaughter of Monique Charest.<\/p>\n The policewoman recorded Martens describing the death and how she had been present.<\/p>\n In evidence presented to the court, Martens is alleged to have told the policewoman, \u2018I made sure that this was what she wanted.\u2019<\/p>\n Evelyn elected to be tried by a judge and jury, and her trial commenced in October 2004. She would be found not guilty<\/a>.<\/p>\nEvelyn Martens & the Canadian bag<\/h2>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.exitinternational.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Evelyn-Martens.jpeg\" "\\"The")
<\/a><\/p>\n