SAVES is not affiliated with Exit International / Dr Philip Nitschke and opposes the public availability of a 'peaceful pill'.

SAVES members had the privilege of hearing Dr Philip Nitschke speak at the general meeting held on 11th July, when he gave an account of current developments both at the international level, and, in what he referred to in Australia, as the "post Bob Dent world". Bob Dent was, of course, the first person to benefit under the Northern Territory's Rights of the Terminally Ill Act, which was subsequently overturned by federal legislation.

Dr Nitschke posed two questions to the audience to illustrate the schism between law and justice in respect of voluntary euthanasia. In asking "Whose life is it?" he argued that the only moral answer is "one's own". Part of the right to life is the right to decide when it is no longer worth living. If this is not the case then we are all "rightless pawns". Jack Kevorkian's situation, for example, provides the law's view of this question. In his trial it was made clear that an enduring request by a hopelessly ill person is not a legal defence. The gap between law and justice could hardly be more clearly illustrated.

Dr Nitschke's second question was "What do we owe people who want to end their life"? Do we help, thwart, or merely ignore them? The law demands we turn our backs and walk away; Dr Kevorkian is currently in prison because he refused to do this.

Dr Nitschke then spoke of the experience in Oregon with their first year of legislation. Twenty three people had prescriptions filled, and the fifteen who subsequently sought physician assisted suicide, covered a broad spectrum of society. This was in stark contrast to predictions by opponents of the legislation that the poor and uneducated would be over-represented statistically among those seeking physician assisted suicide. Although the law appears to be working well in Oregon, there is a move for federal intervention to disable it. Legislation has been proposed to make it illegal for doctors to prescribe, or for pharmacists to dispense, the drugs required for physician assisted suicide.

Dr Nitschke pointed out that if fair legislation can be overridden in this manner, the pessimism and anger which arises inevitably leads to consideration of options outside the legislative framework. Initiatives are now being taken to help people whose hopes were raised, and subsequently dashed, by overturning the Northern Territory legislation. With no voluntary euthanasia legislation in place, a problem arises in the legal sanction of assisting or advising people in regard to rational suicide. Dr Nitschke has sought to formalise the dissemination of information through his advisory clinics. This approach mirrors guidelines issued to medical specialists by their professional associations which recognise the importance of a focus on patient autonomy and the need to be fully informed about one's condition and prognosis.

However a tension arises here between the right of the patient to comprehensive advice, and the right of a doctor to offer such advice. Dr Nitschke argued that to offer advice is not to encourage suicide. On the contrary, giving advice to patients empowers them by offering the security which can prevent precipitous action. It also reveals the hypocrisy of the current system within which a privileged few obtain relevant information and relief. Dr Nitschke claimed that the failure to secure legislative change will lead to moves to circumvent the need for it by offering DIY pharmaceutical options. He recognised that the pursuit of such options may cause division among voluntary euthanasia societies, which tend to be committed to seeking legislative change.

Dr Nitschke ended his talk with an inspired quote from Bishop Desmond Tutu:

"to break an unjust law is a moral imperative; not to break an unjust law is to collaborate with it."

Dr Nitschke received a standing ovation after which a collection was proposed from the floor, in recognition of his ongoing concern for the needs of the hopelessly ill and the need for additional funding. The $437.35 collected has been sent to Philip.