X-Message-Number: 6083 Date: Wed, 17 Apr 1996 09:40:28 -0700 From: David Brandt-Erichsen <> Subject: Australian euthanasia machine The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) published this feature story today. It is now being carried by international news services. This is an abbreviated form of the article. The device mentioned here might be very useful in the future of cryonics. (April 17, 1996) Press 'yes' to die: why Jan Culhane hopes to choose death by computer. By GAY ALCORN If everything goes according to Jan Culhane's plan, she will be the first person in the world to kill herself under euthanasia laws passed by a parliament. Her final act will be to respond to this message on a computer screen: "If you press 'Yes', you will cause a lethal injection to be given within 30 seconds, and will die. Do you wish to proceed?" Fifteen seconds later a syringe will begin to administer lethal drugs into Ms Culhane's arm. She will fall asleep within seconds, and die painlessly from asphyxiation within minutes. "I'm 52 on August 9," says Ms Culhane. "I'm 51, hopefully, when I pass away." Ms Culhane, a nurse and mother of three, has terminal cancer. She has moved to Darwin from NSW to set in train a sequence of events which will lead to her doctor-assisted legal suicide under the Northern Territory's voluntary euthanasia law. She left her home in Albury on March 12, spent three days in a Darwin backpackers' hostel and then found a flat in which to wait for the world's first euthanasia legislation to come into force on July 1. She wants to use the euthanasia machine, dubbed the "death machine", being developed in Darwin by Dr Philip Nitschke and his friend, computer enthusiast Des Carne. "I'm in a great deal of pain and suffering," said Ms Culhane. "It's not all horrific pain that you can't control and it's not all physical pain. I think that the fear that I suffer is just as severe as the physical pain. I'm by no means in more pain than I've ever seen people survive under, but it's pain that I'm not willing to accept. What is non-acceptable to me is probably acceptable to somebody else." She has made her decision to die carefully and deliberately, after five years of suffering from terminal breast cancer, and after 30 years' experience as a nurse. She reads from a piece of paper the three reasons why she wants to end her life: "I want to die because I've got a terminal illness and because the quality of my life has been reduced. The last emphatic reason is that I will not live in fear." Ms Culhane has an overwhelming fear that she will lose autonomy as her illness progresses. Her right breast was removed in 1991, her left in 1992, and the cancer has spread to her lymph glands. She stopped chemotherapy treatment because it left her constantly vomiting and exhausted, unable to walk to the shop for bread and milk. She now tries to keep her daily pain killers - endone and morphine - to a minimum because they affect her ability to think clearly and live independently. Her condition is terminal, but her life expectancy is unclear. The NT's euthanasia legislation aims to give a terminally-ill patient the right to request medical assistance to end their life. It has also unleashed a debate between political, medical and religious interests about the ethics of doctor-assisted suicide. Ms Culhane wants privacy during the last few months of her life, but she has agreed to one media interview with the Herald because she wants to remind people that the legislation is about a person's right to control their own death. "There's a lot of fear about euthanasia," she says. "People think it's going to become like Hitler saying who should die and who shouldn't die. But I can't see that if it's left up to personal choice there'll be any great rush to come to the NT to die." Central to her decision is her experience as a nurse in Victoria, Queensland and WA. "When I first heard that the legislation was going to be gazetted, I felt happy for me but then I cried for those I had nursed. I had sat by their bed and watched them day by day, hour by hour, go through pain and suffering. I felt that they hadn't been given the same privilege that I have." Dr Nitschke believes she is the first person to begin the difficult process under the legislation. When the act commences, she is required to made her request to her doctor, then a second doctor with experience in her illness has to examine her, as well as a psychiatrist who will need to agree that she is not suffering from a "treatable clinical depression". She must be informed of all palliative care options. At least seven days after her initial request, she can sign a formal "Request for Assistance to End My Life in a Humane and Dignified Manner". Then she will need to wait for 48 hours before lethal drugs can be administered. <David Brandt-Erichsen> Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=6083