X-Message-Number: 7286
Date: Mon, 09 Dec 1996 19:32:19 -0700
From: David Brandt-Erichsen <>
Subject: more on Australia

>From THE AGE (Melbourne)
Tuesday 10 December 1996

FIGHT TO COME IN SENATE, SAYS NT DOCTOR

By GAY ALCORN in Darwin

The doctor who helped the first person die under the Northern Territory's
euthanasia legislation says it is "entirely predictable" that the Andrews
bill will pass through the lower house and the real battle will come in the
Senate.

Dr Philip Nitschke said the voluntary euthanasia movement, which believed
that numbers in the Senate were very close, would now start a national
campaign to fight the Andrews bill.

Dr Nitschke said there were five patients waiting to use the legislation who
had been put under "horrendous stress" by the bill. Four were women and some
were from interstate.

He said three patients had obtained the required signature of a psychiatrist
who had confirmed they were not suffering from a treatable clinical
depression. But they had not found the necessary specialist to confirm
diagnosis and prognosis.

"We're having a lot of trouble getting the third doctor," Dr Nitschke said.
"It's hard to understand in a climate where this is a totally lawful event
and they're being asked purely to confirm diagnosis."


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