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Exit International (Assisted Suicide/ Voluntary Euthanasia) | |
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Exit International is a leading End of Life Choices information & advocacy non-profit, founded by Australian physician Dr Philip Nitschke PhD, MD.
In 1996, Dr Nitschke became the first doctor in the world to administer a legal, lethal voluntary injection under Australia's short-lived Rights of the Terminally Ill Act.
Today, Exit International holds meetings & workshops in Australia, the United States, Canada, United Kingdom & NZ. Exit was previously known as the Voluntary Euthanasia Research Foundation.
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>>> Exit 2010 UK/ Ireland DIY Euthanasia Workshop Dates Announced
28 Feb 10
Exit International Director, Dr Philip Nitschke, will be visiting the UK in March 2010.
Topics Covered:
- DIY Death - Why accurate information is essential in the current legal climate
- Sourcing liquid veterinary Nembutal from overseas & legal considerations
- Long term storage, reconstitution and testing of lethal drugs
- The Exit spot test kit for confirmation of barbiturates
- The US "single substance" end of life protocol
- The Hypoxic death (helium v. nitrogen) a practical lawful option
- The role of other prescription and non prescription substances
Dates are as follows:
London - Monday 15 March (11am - 3pm)
Dragon Hall
17 Stukeley St
Tube: Holborn
** NEWS FLASH ** NEW VENUE FOR DUBLIN MEETING **
Dublin - Friday 19 March (1 - 5pm)
Buswells Hotel
26 Molesworth St
Dublin
Public meetings are free and open to all.
Exit workshops are free for Exit members (£25/ €35 - non members).
How to Attend a Workshop
Bookings are recommended as numbers will be limited.
For further information about Exit Workshops please download the Workshop Flyer.
To attend a workshop, please download the Registration Form & fax/ mail to Exit.
To inquire about meetings & workshops please email Exit or call 02071-931-557.
You can join Exit by downloading Exit's 2010 membership brochure now.
>>> Exit Site to Join Australia Day Internet Blackout
20 Jan 10
Exit International will join civil liberties group Electronic Frontiers Australia for their Australia Day Blackout of the Internet (26 Jan).
As one of the world's top-ranked euthanasia websites, "Exit International.net" will be taken off the air temporarily, as part of a national campaign protesting the Australian Government’s proposed mandatory Internet censorship.
Speaking from Australia, Exit Director, Dr Philip Nitschke said: “The Clean Feed is a joke. I see little evidence that this plan has anything to do with child pornography.
"Rather, it is about silencing any range of moral issues with which the Government takes issue. The history of VE in Australia shows that we are right in the Government’s firing line.
Read more HERE.
>>> Exit Director Slams Australian Government Clean Feed
17 Dec 09
Dr Philip Nitschke has slammed the Government’s announcement of the mandatory Internet Clean Feed proposed by Communications Minister Senator Stephen Conroy today.
Dr Nitschke has said the "Clean Feed is the thin edge of the censorship wedge and the final nail in the coffin for voluntary euthanasia advocacy in this country."
Speaking from Sydney, Dr Nitschke said "I feel extremely angry on behalf of the members of our organisation and all other interested folk who will find themselves barred from accessing the most basic information about their end of life choices." To read more, click HERE.
>>> Exit US - Canada November 2009 Workshop Tour
16 Dec 09
Click HERE to view Associated Press Report on the San Francisco Exit Workshop
In November, Exit International brought its unique workshop program to Nth America holding four meetings in Vancouver, Bellingham (WA), San Francisco and Anaheim. With the Vancouver and San Francisco workshops attracting crowds of ~150, much interest was shown in end of life strategies such as Nembutal (and other legal drugs), the use of Inert gases & the Exit Bag, & the Swiss option.
The workshops were preceded by an open public meeting where the history & philosophy of the emerging end of life choices movement were discussed. Workshops were restricted, as always, to the over 50s & seriously ill. For 2010 Tour Dates check the "Workshops" link on this site.
To learn more about the Exit International Workshops you can view ABC Nightline's 'Ten Commandments' (30 September 09) - HERE
>>> Vancouver Public Library Cancels Exit's Workshop
21 Oct09In July 2009, the Vancouver Public Library cancelled a room booking by Exit International alleging that a meeting and workshop would breach s 241 of the Canadian Criminal Code.
In August, Exit International approached British Columbia Civil Liberties Association who agreed to work with Exit to challenge the Library's decision. On 23 September, the BCCLA presented Exit's case to the Library's Board. On 21 October, the VPL announced that despite seeking further legal opinion the booking would remain cancelled. Canada is unique among western countries to consider the discussion about end of life choices amounts to counseling, aiding or abetting suicide.
VPL Director, Paul Whitney, said ‘Freedom of speech and access to information are core values for us, but having said that, the library was not prepared to be party to a probable criminal offence’.
Exit Director, Dr Philip Nitschke called Mr Whitney's comments 'disingenuous. The VPL seems to have decided that it's ok to stock our book The Peaceful Pill Handbook on the shelves, but heaven forbid one should talk about it. As Australians, we expected Canada to have strong free speech laws, we are sorely disappointed. Workshops have never been deemed illegal here in Australia (and we have no Charter of Rights and Freedoms), which makes the VPL's decision even more surprisng' he said from Darwin.
>>> ABC(US) Television - 10 Commandments Features Exit International
30Sept09
Nightline - The Ten Commandments
Commandment VI – Thou shall not Kill
'Dr. Death' Breaks Down Techniques for Suicide
'This Is Peaceful, It's Quick, It Works,' says controversial Australian physician.
In a drab church hall in Brighton, on
US Screening nationally on Nightline – for information click HERE
>>> "Suicide Tourist" screening on National Australian Television
27Aug09
On Thursday 27 August 2008, at 8.30pm the documentary "The Suicide Tourist" will screen nationally in Australia on ABC1.
This powerful documentary gives an accurate account of the last weeks of MND sufferer Craig Ewarts life as he travels to Switzerland for an assisted suicide with the help of the Dignitas organisation.
In Perth quadriplegic Christian Rossiter is considering this "Swiss Option" as a possible alternative to the death by starvation that the Western Australian Supreme Court ruled was his right earlier this month.
An On-Line forum will follow the screening at 9.30pm AEST. Contributing will be:
- Dr Philip Nitschke,
- Christopher Pearson, a leading conservative and Roman Catholic intellectual and journalist who opposes euthanasia for humanistic as well as theological reasons
To joint the discussion - click HERE
>>> Exit Member Chris Rossiter Wins Right to Die by Starvation - A Victory or Curse?
23 Sept09 
Vale - Chris Rossiter
Chris Rossiter passed away as a result of a chest infection on the evening of Sunday 20 September. Chris was a proud man and a courageous fighter for a person's right to choose. Exit will miss him greatly.
17 Aug09
On Friday 14 August 2008, the Western Australian Supreme Court ruled that Exit member, Christian Rossiter, has the legal right to cease being fed through his stomach peg by institutional carers, Brightwater Nursing Home.
With Chris in the court was Exit Director, Dr Philip Nitschke, who told waiting media "It's a very important decision and it's such a victory for common sense. The idea that they would have come back with some direction that his wishes would not be complied with is just to awful to think about" (read the full AFP report HERE).
Chris has been in close contact with Exit over several months, attempting to establish his end of life options. A quadriplegic following a car accident, the 49 year old former stockbroker has become an outspoken advocate for a person's right to choose.
To date, Chris focused on either travelling to the Swiss assisted suicide organisation, Dignitas, or starving himself to death. His repeated theme to Exit is that he is a "prisoner trapped within his body."
To read more about this breaking story, visit ABC Online.
>>> Release of the Exit Euthanasia Drug Test Kit
27 April, 2009
Dr Philip Nitschke, will demonstrate the use of the Exit euthanasia drug test kit in London on Sun 3 May.
Exit will provide free test for people who have obtained these drugs. The kits (pictured) shows if the sample tested is (a) a barbiturate and (b) if it is of sufficient strength to provide a peaceful death at the time of one’s choosing.
Speaking from
Darwin , before leaving
Australia for the
UK , Dr Nitschke said that the kits had been developed by Exit when it was realised there was a growing need for a method of testing euthanasia drugs.
“Larger numbers of people are now acquiring the euthanasia drug Nembutal from a variety of uncertain sources so that they have access to this lethal drug should their health deteriorate. This often leads to anxiety over the efficacy of the drug they have obtained, especially if it has been stored for some time – and the test kits will go a long way towards addressing this concern”.
The euthanasia drug test kits will also be discussed at the series of public meeting and workshops being held in the
UK by Dr Nitschke from May 4 - 10
Read an account of the Exit Nembutal Test Kit in TIME
>>> Angy's Choice - 57 year old Palliative Care Nurse Achieves a Peaceful Death
25 March, 2009
Suffering from breast cancer that had spread to her bones & a fierce defender of a person's right to a peaceful & dignified passing at a time of their choosing, Angy Belecciu is a proud & brave voice for change where end-of-life laws are concerned.
In January 2008, Angie paid for two other elderly Exit members to travel to Mexico to obtain Nembutal on her behalf. Suffering from the asbestos cancer Mesolthelioma, 78 year old Don Flounders & his wife Iris (85) travelled to Mexico with Channel 7 News, returning to Australia with 3 bottles of the deadly liquid. Don continues to fight his cancer. Mr and Mrs Flounders said they were "saddened" by Angy's death but relieved they had provided her with a very special choice.
To read the 1900 word article that appeared on the front page of The Age newspaper on Wednesday 25 March 2009, click HERE.
>>> 78 Year Old Grandmother of Five Included on Australian Government Website Blacklist
23 March, 2009
Retired Nurse Educator, Mrs Betty Peters OAM, has lambasted the Federal Government for the inclusion of her YouTube video “Do It Yourself with Betty” and “Betty makes a Peaceful Pill” on the ACMA blacklist of banned websites.
A member of Exit International, as part of her volunteer work with Exit Mrs Peters has made several videos, aimed at providing the elderly and seriously ill with practical information about voluntary euthanasia. The videos are routinely shown at Exit workshops around Australia, New Zealand and overseas and are included in the video edition of The Peaceful Pill eHandbook by Dr Philip Nitschke.
Speaking from her home in Ivanhoe in Melbourne, Mrs Peters said she was “outraged” at the government’s big brother attitude to Australian senior citizens. “My generation has lived through a lot, including WWII. We more than most people know about death and many of us don’t want to suffer the pain and indignity of illness or a prolonged period as a vegetable in a nursing home.”
“My videos aim to teach people how to take control of their dying days. As adults it is our right to make these decisions. We do not need a 40 year old Senator like Stephen Conroy deciding for us what is good and bad. I am appalled that our free country has come to this.”
The secret ACMA blacklist that was leaked on the Internet on Friday (see www.wikileaks.org) and contains 3 banned YouTube and VEOH videos, 2 of which feature Mrs Peters. None of the videos provide explicit instruction on Suicide. In November 2008, the New Zealand Literature Review Board ruled that “DIY with Betty” contained no “objectionable” material and should receive an unrestricted classification.
Speaking from her home in Ivanhoe in Melbourne, Mrs Peters said she was “outraged” at the government’s big brother attitude to Australian senior citizens. “My generation has lived through a lot, including WWII. We more than most people know about death and many of us don’t want to suffer the pain and indignity of illness or a prolonged period as a vegetable in a nursing home.”
“My videos aim to teach people how to take control of their dying days. As adults it is our right to make these decisions. We do not need a 40 year old Senator like Stephen Conroy deciding for us what is good and bad. I am appalled that our free country has come to this.”
The secret ACMA blacklist that was leaked on the Internet on Friday (see www.wikileaks.org) and contains 3 banned YouTube and VEOH videos, 2 of which feature Mrs Peters. None of the videos provide explicit instruction on Suicide. In November 2008, the New Zealand Literature Review Board ruled that “DIY with Betty” contained no “objectionable” material and should receive an unrestricted classification.