25 Years Since 1st Euthanasia || Oct Snippet on US Lethal Mixtures || Landmark CA Court Case || Qld Passes Law || BMA Drops Opposition

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25 Years Since 1st Legal, Lethal, Voluntary Injection in Darwin Australia

It is 25 years since Philip Nitschke helped Bob Dent to die in the Northern Territory of Australia.

Bob Dent was the first person in the world to receive a legal, lethal, voluntary injection.

Suffering from prostate cancer, Bob Dent used the Deliverance Machine.

Read the Exit Statement on this quarter of a century milestone.

Next Exit Snippet - Wednesday, 6 October

Registrations Open

The October Exit Snippet will be held on the USA Lethal Mixtures.

The Snippet will explore the groundbreaking work coming out of the US which details the combination of lethal drugs that can be used for a peaceful death when the holy grail of Nembutal is not available.

In States such as California, the price of Nembutal is now out of reach for many people. Lethal drug combinations such as D-DMAPh have been devised to fill the gap.

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Need to Know

Snippets are reserved for Exit Members & current subscribers to the Peaceful Pill eHandbook
Snippets are held at 22.00 BST (London time) on the 1st Wednesday of the month. Use the time zone calculator to check your time zone.
Snippet Recordings are available on subscription - only to members/ subscribers
Existing Snippet Subscribers can log-in here
More about Snippets can be found on the Exit International website

California Law Suit Alleges Discrimination

A ground-breaking law suit got underway this week in California where a group of patients allege that California's End of Life Option Act discriminates against them because they are disabled.

By disabled they mean that their terminal diseases have caused them to lose movement, and, therefore, they are unable to drink the lethal mixture of drugs.

The long and short of this dilemma is that in order to use the California they are being forced to go early.

An earlier, similar case involving discrimination because of lack of body movement (albeit in a jurisdiction where no right to die law existed) was that of Tom Curran's partner, Marie Flemming.

In 2012 Marie brought a case in Ireland's Supreme Court seeking a declaration that she was entitled to assistance to die because she could not suicide herself due to her advanced MS.

Marie's case suggested that with Tom's help she could bypass her inability to take her own life (end her own suffering) by self-administering gas through a mask, or shaking her head or blowing to activate a canula or tube in her arm which could then dispense lethal drugs.

Read more about Marie's case here

Or about her book An Act of Love

An Act of Love is available on the Exit website.

Suizid: Let's Talk About It Exhibition

The Sarco went on display this week as part of the Museum fur Sepalkralkultur new exhibition titled 'Suizid: Let's talk about it'.

The exhibition draws on art and cultural history, medicine, the humanities and social sciences to provide information, suggestions, challenges, and opportunities to reflect on how society and individuals deal with suicide.

Read more about the Museum, the Exhibition & the opening night on the Exit website.

Museum Website

Queensland Passes Medical R2D Law

This week Queensland became the 5th Australian state to pass medical voluntary assisted dying law.

Despite Exit's submission urging the lawmakers to adopt a Swiss model law which allows elderly adults who are not terminally ill to seek assisted suicide (as long as they have mental capacity and can flick the switch or drink the drink themselves), the Queensland law is something much different.

To use the new Queensland law the person must:

have a terminal diagnosis and be likely to be dead in 12 months
seek the approval of 2 doctors
ask 3 times for medical help, with a 9 day cooling off period between requests

And that is just the start of it.

While the Queensland law is good news for those who have the clear terminal diagnosis, it is bad news for anyone who wants basic choice at the end of life.

The law provides little choice to the vast majority of elderly Queenslanders.

You cannot use the law if you are:

not terminally ill
have any type of mental illness
have a range of niggling things eg. arthritis, incontinence, failing eyesight etc
wish to die with your husband/ wife

For these reasons, the Peaceful Pill eHandbook is more relevant than ever.

As are the Swiss services which allow couples to go together.

For a good summary by the ABC, see the Exit International website

British Medical Association Drop Opposition

In a development that can benevolently be described as 'overdue', the British Medical Association announced this week that it was dropping its official opposition to assisted dying.

The BMA now holds a neutral (non-position) on assisted dying.

The vote was narrow with 49% of members voting for, 48% against a change in the position with 3% abstentions.