X-Message-Number: 6442
Date: Thu, 04 Jul 1996 20:37:50 -0700
From: David Brandt-Erichsen <>
Subject: Australia update

>From The Age, Melbourne, July 5

NT SPECIALISTS NOT WILLING TO ASSIST DEATH BID 

By Gay Alcorn

Max Bell, a cancer patient waiting to use the Northern Territory's voluntary
euthanasia law, was planning to starve himself to death because no NT
medical specialist had agreed to examine him, his doctor said yesterday. Dr
Philip Nitschke said that while a psychiatrist had agreed to examine his
patient as required under the law, no specialist had offered to see Mr Bell,
a taxi driver from Broken Hill. Dr Nitschke said Mr Bell, 66, had considered
publicly appealing for a specialist, needed to confirm his diagnosis and
prognosis, but was ``too proud''. ``What he's going to do is simply stop
eating. It's the only act of independence he's got left.'' Dr Nitschke's
letter to the specialists, obtained by The Age, says that Mr Bell has
terminal stomach cancer and wishes to die under the world's first laws to
legalise voluntary euthanasia. ``He is now unable to eat solid food, and
sips only milk and tea. He vomits repeatedly. Pain is relatively well
controlled, but nausea and vomiting are not. He continues to lose weight and
is not interested in further palliative care,'' the letter said. Dr Nitschke
said he sent the letter to about 10 specialists, who refused to see Mr Bell
on grounds that they could face criminal charges if they assisted before a
legal challenge to the legislation was concluded. A challenge to the Rights
of the Terminally Ill Act before the full bench of the Supreme Court of the
NT finished on Tuesday. The three judges reserved their decision as to
whether the legislation was beyond the territory's power to enact. The NT's
Chief Minister, Mr Shane Stone, has said that warnings of prosecution are
``hollow'', and it would be up to the director of public prosecutions to
decide whether to charge a person who had acted under what was believed to
be valid legislation. ``I've never seen such a train of excuse after excuse
after excuse (from doctors),'' Dr Nitschke said. ``They want to wait until
Max has had a trial of anti-depressants that will take three weeks. They
want to wait until they've had it checked out with their medical defence,
they want to wait until the Supreme Court's finished, they want to wait
until something happens in the Legislative Assembly in Canberra. They just
want to wait. It's been the most appalling display of gutlessness I've ever
seen in my life.'' Dr Nitschke said Mr Bell, who is now in hospital, asked
him how long it would take to starve himself to death. Dr Nitschke had
replied that it would take about a week. If Mr Bell is able to get the three
required signatures, there is a nine-day ``cooling off'' period before he
can end his life under the legislation. The act came into force on Monday.
It is facing a challenge from a private member's bill in Federal Parliament
and is expected to be debated in September.


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