X-Message-Number: 7804
Date: Tue, 04 Mar 1997 11:01:48 -0700
From: David Brandt-Erichsen <>
Subject: 4th euthanasia in Australia

     From the Sydney Morning Herald, March 5

     Sydney woman dies by euthanasia law

     By GAY ALCORN in Darwin

     A 72-year-old Sydney woman was transferred medically to Darwin to
     end her life under the Northern Territory's controversial
     voluntary euthanasia law on Saturday.

     The woman, who has not been named, had terminal cancer and became
     the fourth person to use the law, which is expected to be
     overturned by the Senate later this month.

     Euthanasia advocate Dr Philip Nitschke, who assisted the woman to
     die, said the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act was working
     "extremely well", but now at least one eligible patient was
     feeling pressure to die under the law because of the likelihood of
     the legislation being overturned. Dr Nitschke, in a statement
     released on the Internet, said the Senate should take into account
     the plight of such people and allow some dispensation so they
     could end their life after the Senate vote.

     "To offer these vulnerable people less than this is to behave in
     an inhumane, barbaric and essentially uncivilised manner, and will
     be a damning indictment of the Australian Senate," he said.

     Few details of the patient have been released, but Dr Nitschke
     said she was accompanied by her five adult children, who witnessed
     her death in a Darwin motel. She died by lethal injection via a
     computer-operated machine.

     The patient became the second interstate person and the second
     woman to use the law.

     Dr Nitschke said the approval of both a psychiatrist and
     specialist as required under the law had been found without
     difficulty, and there had been four Territory specialists willing
     to assist.

     A report of a Senate committee, which is inquiring into the effect
     of the Federal private member's bill on the Northern Territory
     law, is due to be tabled tomorrow. The vote is due later this
     month.

     The sponsor of the Federal law, Victorian Liberal backbencher Mr
     Kevin Andrews, said no dispensation could be offered to patients
     who had fulfilled the criteria unless there was an amendment to
     his bill, which he would not support. He said the fourth death
     showed there was now no public scrutiny of voluntary euthanasia
     deaths in the Territory.

The following is the complete text of the statement from Dr. Philip Nitschke:

     DESPERATION AMONGST TERMINALLY ILL
 
     PANIC BEGINS AS SENATE VOTE DRAWS NEARER

Dr Nitschke said today that the situation in the Northern Territory was
"extremely unsatisfactory" as the time for the Senate vote on the Andrew's
Bill to overturn the Territory's euthanasia legislation drew nearer.

"Terminally ill patients who are establishing their eligibility under the
Territory law are becoming extremely anxious and beginning to panic, as
they realise that the possibility exists for the law to be cut from under
them before they have a chance to benefit from it".

"These patient have enough difficulty battling and dealing with the suffering
from their terminal illness, without having now to deal with the additional
anxiety brought about by the Senate vote".

"Some patients have established their eligibility, and they are now confronted
with the impossible situation of having to decide whether to go ahead
prematurely and use the Act before the vote is taken in the Senate during
March".

Dr Nitschke urged the Senate to take account of the plight of these people
and to indicate clearly to these patients that they will NOT have to end their
lives before they wish.

"All patients who have established their eligibility under this Territory law
before the vote is taken in the Senate, should be given as much time as they
need to decide whether or not they wish to go ahead and legally use the
Territory law. To offer these vulnerable people less than this is to behave in
an inhuman, barbaric, and essentially uncivilised manner, and will be a
damning indictment of the Australian Senate".

Philip Nitschke


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