Newspaper Media
February 1, 2016
Readers Respond in their Thousands to “The Big Sleep” & the Reality of Ageing
When my article about Peter and Pat Shaw, the husband and wife who took their own lives, went up on Fairfax websites at noon last Friday, I didn’t know what to expect. Would our readers click on a story about an elderly couple’s suicide pact? Or was it too much for a sunny afternoon […]
January 16, 2016
The Big Sleep: the Rational Suicide of Melbourne Scientists Pat & Peter Shaw
Sydney Morning Herald by Julia Medew
Scientists Pat and Peter Shaw died in a suicide pact in October. Here, their daughters reflect on their parents’ plan – and their remarkable lives. For as long as the blue-eyed Shaw sisters can remember, they knew that their parents planned to one day take their own lives. It was often a topic of conversation. […]
November 27, 2015
Euthanasia Campaigner Philip Nitschke Sets Medical License Alight
Euthanasia campaigner Philip Nitschke has set fire to his medical practising certificate, and vowed to continue to advise terminally ill patients about how to take their own lives. The Medical Board of Australia had set out 25 conditions for the prominent campaigner to comply with if he wanted to remain a practising doctor. They included […]
November 1, 2015
Silencing Philip Nitschke won’t stop need for death with dignity
Terry Sweetman, The Courier-Mail
Silencing euthanasia advocate Philip Nitschke won’t stop need for death with dignity EVEN before attending a Dying With Dignity meeting, I understood the inevitability of the former and the uncertainty of the latter. People might face death bravely, stoically or even cavalierly, but they never beat it. And, I have seen little that suggests much […]
October 26, 2015
Nitschke may give up Medical Registration
Euthanasia campaigner Philip Nitschke may consider giving up his medical registration after being forced to agree with a “gun to his head” to stop providing suicide and euthanasia advice. The Medical Board of Australia on Monday imposed 25 strict conditions on Dr Nitschke in a mediated settlement that will require he practise only in the […]
October 26, 2015
Ex-NT Chief Minister slams euthanasia advocate restrictions
Bill Hoffman, Sunshine Coast Daily
THE FORMER senior politician who introduced Australia’s first voluntary euthanasia laws has described Medical Board of Australia conditions of registration imposed on Exit International head Dr Phillip Nitschke as like something out of North Korea. Dr Nitschke has accepted 25 conditions on his ability to practice in a mediated settlement that concludes longstanding legal and […]
September 11, 2015
Will California say ‘Yes’ to aid in dying bill?
SACRAMENTO — In a landmark victory for supporters of assisted suicide, the California State Legislature on Friday gave its final approval to a bill that would allow doctors to help terminally ill people end their lives. Four states — Oregon, Washington, Montana and Vermont — already allow physicians to prescribe life-ending medication to some patients. […]
July 30, 2015
Jay Franklin is pleading for help to end his life peacefully
In 2012, after nearly 100 operations and suffering ongoing chronic pain and depression from 35 years of living with a congenital bowel disease, Jay Franklin decided he would seek to end his life Jay Franklin has a ticket to die. Two years ago, the 37-year-old became one of the few Australians to be accepted at […]
July 24, 2015
Dr Death’s show is what the Fringe is all about
It is more than 50 years since a naked girl raced across the stage of an Edinburgh Fringe show, causing palpitations among the audience and outrage in the city chambers. The redoubtable Moira Knox, city councillor and bastion of moral standards, denounced the performance as an offence to common decency and threatened to close down […]
July 22, 2015
Dr Death’s Edinburgh Fringe show will see audience members ‘gassed’
Paul Gallagher, The Independent
Audience members at the Edinburgh Fringe show hosted by the controversial medic known as Dr Death will be ‘gassed’ as they model how “a peaceful and reliable means of death” is carried out. Right-to-die campaigner Philip Nitschke, 67, will invite people on stage to inhale gas from his updated version of the Deliverance machine that […]