The Right-To-Die Radical

The doc who wants you to die with dignity. Photography by Giles Park.

The Right-To-Die Radical

NAME: Philip Nitschke
JOB: Physician and Author
Specialty: Euthanasia

This is part five of our Health Mavericks series. To catch up, check out Samuel L. Jackson’s plan to tackle one of our biggest killers, Australian cricket team doctor Peter Brukner’s championing of the LCHF diet , Professor Thomas Borody’s ground-breaking work with faecal transplants and Professor David Nutt’s audacious plan to solve society’s drinking problem.

I got into medicine late in life – I was 35 when I started medical school in Sydney.

After I finished studying, I was working in the Northern Territory when I heard that the Chief Minister was bringing in a law that would allow terminally ill people to get help from a doctor to die. That was when all the opposition started.

One of the arguments put forward by the Australian Medical Association that really annoyed me was that the people of the Territory didn’t know what they were asking for, that it was a dangerous idea. It was a very paternalistic position and I was pretty annoyed by the insufferable arrogance of my profession.

So I got a number of doctors together and we challenged it. Eventually the legislation was passed by one vote and the law came into effect on July 1, 1996. It was the world’s first euthanasia legislation.

The first person to use the law was a man called Bob Dent, who was dying of prostate cancer. By God, the legislation made him jump through hoops. After a few weeks of being dragged all over Darwin to see doctors, he said, “I don’t know why the hell I’m doing this”. He saw it as a humiliating experience. And I was sympathetic to that.

He ended up dying on September 22, 1996. It was the world’s first voluntary lethal injection. He used a machine I built to deliver the drugs. After answering three questions on the screen of a laptop, he pressed the button, then died at home in his wife’s arms. In the eight months that the legislation existed in the Northern Territory, four people accessed it. Another person qualified, but the law was chopped out from under her by the Federal Government before she had a chance to use it.

I suspect that sooner or later we’re going to see that legislation return to Australia. But what I’m seeing a lot of now is people who are tired of life, which is a different issue altogether. These aren’t sick people – they’re simply people who feel they should have access to the best drugs available [should they decide euthanasia is an option].

I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s a fundamental right for the individual to make the decision. That’s why the organisation I’ve set up, Exit International, has got pretty loose criteria: you’ve got to be an adult and you’ve got to be of sound mind.

If you fit those criteria, we’ll make sure you get the best information. That’s the issue: once you know what drugs there are and how you can get them, it’s really not that hard. Most people get these drugs hoping they’ll never use them. They’ve got a shelf life of 25 years, so people want to put them away and hope they’ll die peacefully in their sleep. But if that doesn’t happen, they’re comforted knowing they’ve got something that will work.

I think information is the answer to the issue. When people know what they’re doing and know they’re in control – I would argue that’s the symptom of a healthy society.

* Nitschke’s medical licence has been suspended by the Medical Board of Australia. He’s fighting the suspension.

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