I dunno Doctor, I always thought the very first duty of a medical doctor was first...to do no harm ?

Further, aren't doctors charged with the responsibility of treating those who are sick - not assisting humans with the means of killing themselves ?

Or is it simply a case that you (personally) find, that treating or aiding the cure of the sick, is all rather too routine. And not nearly as fulfilling, as manifestingly helping somebody to die ?

I recall well, after a rather nasty ambush, close by Dat Do in SV, our Section Cmdr.(Cpl) had to decide whether to put this poor bugger NVA out of his misery because the Claymore didn't quite finish it's 'work', anyway... it was very very difficult, believe me.

I suppose it takes all sorts Doctor ?

Philip it is about time that instead of grandiosing about yourself with Voluntary Euthanasia it is time you gave praise to all of the people involved in making VE law in each state, you never mention these people, it is all about yourself, "Saves" in S.A have been working very hard to bring about change in this state and it is very disappointing to have you announce your intentions before the bill was passed in S.A. this was detrimental to some politicians when you announced a clinic of your choosing in this State, wait until a decision is made then announce your intentions, you know the press will follow you because of your radical intentions when they should be concentrating more on the VE movements in each state.
The VE movements in each state are working for the benefit of ALL CITIZENS not just those involved with Exit who pay a large fee to become members, are you going to tell me how to end my life unless I become a member of Exit, Philip stay out of the limelight until decions are made, then come in with your plans of clinics, and please give praise to all the hard working people in each state including myself who want to see legislation passed through Parliament not a nebutal making class somewhere in the outback for only those who are in the Exit movment.

Ojnab

Dr Nitschke's article regarding physician assisted death (PAD) and 'Exit Clinics' is premature and should have been kept until any legislation is passed concerned with PAD. Before that, he and all others who work toward PAD must expand their unjustly limited vision.

"There will always be those for whom illness brings utter incapacity and devastation. Whether it is a long, drawn-out degenerative disease such as MS or an acute bout of terminal cancer...". Such diseases cause despair to many and life is limited without hope.

My daughter, at 40, had suffered a degenerative disease for some twenty years. Once a brilliant photographer, all creativity and talent had disintegrated. She lost the ability to care for herself as she once did and self-esteem and friends went along the way. The disease, degenerative, incurable and intractable to treatment, took away hope of a better life but left the memory of what she once had been; "utter incapacity and devastation" indeed. She had suffered all that could be borne. She placed her head on a rail track, waited for the train and found peace.

Anne's degenerative diease was paranoid schizophrenia; this, with bipolar 1 and severe affective disorders, caused 90% of some 4,600 suicides in 2008. Every two hours a despairing person jumps from a bridge or building, in front of a train (50/year in Victoria), cuts blood vessels or hangs themselves. We weep for their deaths. And we ask: why are degenerative diseases "such as MS" used to plead for PAD;
why are degenerative diseases of the brain not considered? They can cause immense suffering, often followed by suicide...almost always violent and always, always heartbreakingly alone. Your maxim, Dr Nitschke, "...it should be their human right not to suffer more than is necessary.", appears to apply only to some Australians. Stigma, doctor. This final, obscene stigma must end for the severely mentally ill.
ANY NEW LEGISLATION MUST COVER ALL AUSTRALIANS IN THAT AREA. More difficult? Yes, indeed! Impossible? NO! And there are tens of thousands of us who will fight for it!

Nitschke reminds me of the priest in movie "The Devils", rubbing his hands together and cackling with laughter as he rejoices in the premature death of another, less fortunate, human.

He makes and has made part of his considerable income by trying to influence Governments to legislate for the right of people like him to decide that another's life is less worthy than his own, and then take that life. I don't trust the Government to manage health services properly, let alone provide death services.

On a personal note my only contact with Nitschke showed him to be an ignorant, egocentric man. Years ago I was in the Sydney Domestic Qantas Club sitting on one of 6 (I think, maybe 8) chairs around one table which served as a common place for drinks, food, papers and so on. Nitschke sat down, pulled the table in front of himself and it became "his" while I, and anyone else who may have sat there, went without.

I tolerated his inconsiderately loud, almost shouted, conversations on the phone very briefly before moving. From 20 metres away his self-promoting words could still be heard over the general noise.

I could imagine that L.B Loveday, a very egocentric man, he normally waits until all of the VE movements in each state have contacted politicians and others and have spent many many hours of voluntary work to bring VE to all people who request it, this being hopefully passed by law through Parliament in each state, he does nothing of this except hold Exit clinics for his members, but when the cruch time comes for a decision by Parliament there he is making sure he has advised the press that he will be in town, tries to take all the accolades from the VE movements, where in actual fact he has done nothing towards achieving their aims.If VE fails in S.A. and Tasmania I think Philip should take a look at himself and perhaps think to himself I helped that to fail because of my radical end of life means.

Ojnab

It is OK for our Govts to take us to war and murder the best of our youth,and yet they still want control of our final exist.

Our exist from this life should be a matter of personal choice,since we had no choice in our entrance.Our Govt cannot control itself,let alone the citizens whom it oppresses.