How many suicide cylinders did Dr Nitschke sell on his UK tour?

This article was written by Dr Peter Saunders and published on his blog under the title: The question that the police have not asked and Nitschke has not answered.

By Peter Saunders - The Campaign Director for the Care Not Killing Alliance - UK

Peter Saunders

Philip Nitschke

Australia's ‘Dr Death’ Philip Nitschke visited the UK this week and held a ‘workshop’ at Dragon Hall in London providing instruction in how to commit suicide. About 150 people attended.

Not understandably the event evoked protests and some publicity.

In the week before Nitschke arrived I wrote to both the Home Secretary Theresa May and the London Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe to advise them about his visit and to inform them that I believed his workshop would be in breach of the Suicide Act 1961, under which it is an offence to ‘encourage or assist’ suicide.

The Act does not require that a suicide is actually carried out in order to for a prosecution to take place.

Quite possibly as a result Nitschke was briefly detained at Gatwick airport but was eventually let in, presumably with the permission of the Home Secretary.

The police did not attend the workshop but referred the matter to the Crown Prosecution Service who decided that an investigation was not necessary.

At his workshop last Tuesday Nitschke, who is on public record as supporting suicide for ‘the depressed, the elderly bereaved, (and) the troubled teen’, gave advice on the sourcing, supply and use of barbiturates, nitrogen and other means that people could use to kill themselves.

A 2010 report demonstrated that coroners were aware of 51 Australians who had died from an overdose of Nembutal, a lethal barbiturate that Nitschke has promoted since the late 1990’s as ‘a peaceful way to die’.

But this fact seems to leave Nistchke unperturbed.

When previously confronted with the fact that 14 of the 51 were Australians in their 20’s and 30’s and only 11 of 38 investigated were known to have suffered chronic physical pain or a terminal illness he responded that ‘there will be some casualties’.

Currently Nitschke is the subject of an inquiry by the Australian Health Practitioners Agency (AHPA) in connection with a company called 'Max Dog Brewing' which he has set up in order to sell nitrogen cylinders via his ‘Exit International’ website to people who wish to end their lives.

‘Max Dog Brewing’ is owned by Northern Analytics Pty Ltd which has ‘Philip Haig Nitschke’ as its sole director.

Its website claims that nitrogen cylinders can be used for home brewing (nitrogen produces the bubbles in stout) but Nitschke has admitted on Australian national media that they can equally be used to commit suicide and there are much cheaper sources of the gas available for brewers.

I asked Nitschke on twitter this week how many nitrogen cylinders he has so far sold to members of the British public but thus far he has not responded.

However according to the Newstalk ZB in New Zealand Max Dog Brewing has already sent shipments to both New Zealand and the UK.

So here we have a man who travels the world running ‘workshops’ in order to give information to people in order that they can commit suicide.

He tells them where they can obtain barbiturate drugs and sells kits for storage of the drugs and for measuring their concentration.

And he sells nitrogen cylinders via a company he has set up for the purpose along with the necessary kit to deliver the gas.

Quite why this does not amount to ‘encouraging and assisting’ suicide is a mystery to me.

What will it take, I wonder for the Home Secretary, the police and the Crown Prosecution Service to do something about it?

I hope it is not the first barbiturate or nitrogen suicide of someone in the UK making use of his information and equipment.

But I am not holding my breath.

Why was Nitschke let into the UK?

This article was written by Dr Peter Saunders and published on his blog on June 23.

By Dr Peter Saunders - Campaign Director for the Care Not Killing Alliance UK

Dr Peter Saunders

Dr Philip Nitschke

Last week I wrote to the Home Secretary Theresa May advising her about the visit of Australian assisted suicide enthusiast Philip Nitschke urging her to prevent him entering Britain to conduct a seminar on methods people can use to kill themselves.

Today Nitschke was detained at Gatwick airport, but eventually let into the country several hours later after having some ‘items’ temporarily confiscated by border police.

Nitschke (aka Dr Death) is an extremist and self-publicist whose presence in the UK puts the lives of vulnerable elderly, depressed and disabled people at grave risk. 

His workshop in London on Tuesday under the auspices of ‘EXIT International’ now looks likely to go ahead and will advise on the sourcing, supply and use of barbiturates, helium, nitrogen and other means to commit suicide. 

In 2001, Nitschke said that his so-called ‘peaceful pill’ should be ‘available in the supermarket so that those old enough to understand death could obtain death peacefully at the time of their choosing’.

Asked who would qualify for access he replied that ‘all people qualify, not just those with the training, knowledge or resources to find out how to “give away” their life and someone needs to provide this knowledge training or resource necessary to anyone who wants it, including the depressed, the elderly bereaved, (and) the troubled teen’. 

A 2010 report demonstrated that coroners were aware of 51 Australians who had died from an overdose of Nembutal, a lethal barbiturate that Nitschke has promoted since the late 1990’s as ‘a peaceful way to die’.

Of the 38 cases fully investigated by coroners, only 11 people were known to have suffered chronic physical pain or a terminal illness before their deaths. Of the 51, 14 were Australians in their 20’s and 30’s.

Journalist Michael Cook put it to Nitschke in 2011 that ‘nearly two-thirds of the Australians who died after quaffing Nembutal... were under 60, and quite a few were in their 20s and 30s... [suggesting that] that mental illness or depression, not unbearable pain, was the reason for the suicide.’

Nitschke responded, ‘There will be some casualties... but this has to be balanced with the growing pool of older people who feel immense well-being from having access to this information, [about suicide drugs].’

In the past, Nitschke's workshops have focused on the use of drugs and gas to commit suicide, with around half the time being used to explain how Nembutal, a veterinary sedative, can be used to end life.  

He has explained to attendees the best way to administer drugs and gas in order to bring about death, and has advertised test kits for Nembutal. 

Currently he is the subject of an inquiry by the Australian Health Practitioners Agency (AHPA) in connection with a company called 'Max Dog Brewing' which he has set up in order to sell nitrogen cylinders to the public. Its website claims that they can be used for home brewing (nitrogen produces the bubbles in stout) but Nitschke has admitted on Australian national media that they can equally be used to commit suicide.

The Suicide Act, as amended in 2009, states that ‘an act capable of encouraging or assisting the suicide or an attempted suicide of another person’ is illegal, ‘whether or not a suicide, or an attempt at suicide, occurs’; the emphasis is on whether the accused ‘intended to encourage or assist suicide or an attempt at suicide’.

I believe that what Nitschke has done at previous workshops falls within the scope of these offences, because the information shared was capable of encouraging or assisting an attendee to commit suicide and the workshop was intended to encourage or assist people to commit suicide by offering them advice about the ‘best way’ of doing it.

Nitschke’s activities present a real and present risk to vulnerable members of the British public.

With the growing elderly population, failure of the care system and worsening economic situation a growing number of frail, disabled, ill and depressed people in Britain will be feeling under even greater pressure to end their lives, either for fear that they will not cope, or so as to be less of a burden to relatives.

They deserve better protection from suicide predators like Nitschke than they are currently getting.

Let’s hope that no vulnerable person is ‘helped’ over the edge by attending his seminar or as a result of the inevitable media hype that will accompany his visit.

Quite why the Home Secretary allowed him into the UK remains a mystery but Britain deserves an explanation.

Previous articles about Philip Nitschke:

- Philip Nitschke appears to be trolling the internet for peaceful pill customers and death clients.
- Philip Nitschke continues to promote veterinary drugs for suicide.

- Were Robert Miller and James Robertson influenced by Philip Nitschke? 

- Legalizing euthanasia, there will be casualties.

Nitschke is importing death cannisters.

The following article was written by Paul Russell, the founder and leader of HOPE Australia, and published on his blog on December 19 under the title: Importing Death Cannisters, legal or not?.

The article concerns a TV news current affairs program that focused on the new suicide device that was developed by Philip Nitschke under the guise of the Max Dog brewing company. The comment by Paul Russell follows:

Importing Death Cannisters, legal or not?

Paul Russell

Last Tuesday night December 18 the ABC's National Current Affairs program, The 7:30 Report, ran a story on Dr. Nitschke and his promotion of nitrogen for suicide. 

Link to The 7:30 Report program. 

For the first time, he admitted that he imports the nitrogen canisters from China and the report said that he did so through the company, Max Dog Brewing which is wholly owned by Dr. Nitschke through another company, Northern Analytics P/L.

In the report, Nitschke suggests that brewing is the reason for the imports of nitrogen and that people might choose to use it for other purposes as well. The ABC seem to have swallowed that assertion uncritically.

It's really hard to take this seriously; as is the image of Nitschke sitting in the back of a van in a North Sydney car park awaiting his customers.

Nitrogen is used in some brewing processes, certainly; but most home brewers would not use this method of providing the bubbles in their favourite brew. But why the need for a front company and why the need for the brewing facade?

Perhaps Australian Customs Laws and Regulations might have something to do with it:

CUSTOMS (PROHIBITED IMPORTS) REGULATIONS 1956 - REG 3AA

Importation of devices and documents relating to suicide

(1) The importation of a device designed or customised to be used by a person to commit suicide, or to be used by a person to assist another person to commit suicide, is prohibited absolutely.

(2)  The importation of the following documents is prohibited absolutely:

(a)  a document that promotes the use of a device mentioned in subregulation (1);

(b) a document that counsels or incites a person to commit suicide using one of those devices;

(c)  a document that instructs a person how to commit suicide using one of those devices.

These Regulations seem open to interpretation, who knows. But what we do know, from Nitschke's own words is that he has another order of 100 canisters on the way.

How do we know who turns on the tap?

This is the big question here. If there's a debate in a parliament on euthanasia or assisted suicide MPs have to grapple with the issue of public safety: are the 'safeguards' really safe? Does the bill protect people at risk?

But here there's no such protection, no public scrutiny and no accountability. As I said in the interview, we should really be concerned about Elder Abuse - there's no way of telling whether or not an abusive relative ordered the kit and turned on the tap. There's no way of guaranteeing that a troubled teenager didn't order a kit or 'borrow' one from a relative or friend.

This is reckless behaviour.

Were Robert Miller and James Robertson influenced by Philip Nitschke?

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Philip Nitschke, Australia's Dr. Death, has been involved with counseling and providing information in connection to suicide deaths on a world-wide basis.

Nitschke is known for creating and promoting suicide devices. When I attended the World Federation of Right to Die Societies conference in Toronto in September 2006, I witnessed Nitschke demonstrating a device to regulate the flow of helium from a tank.

This story of Robert Miller and James Robertson in the UK from the report from the Times Online from June 14, 2010; describes the case. The story reported:

A key issue for detectives will be whether Robert Miller and James Robertson were influenced by Philip Nitschke, the Australian medic nicknamed Dr Death. Dr Nitschke, who founded the pro-euthanasia group Exit International, is also the inventor of the “deliverance machine”, a syringe linked to a laptop that can administer a lethal injection.

Dr Nitschke said that he created the device to allow those wishing to take their own life to initiate the process instead of relying on a doctor. A needle is inserted into the arm of the patient before he or she answers questions on the laptop. It is made clear that if they choose the final option they will be injected with a lethal barbiturate.

Last year Dr Nitschke toured Britain giving suicide workshops to the elderly. Although those attending had to be over 50, there are fears that his information is being accessed by the young, the vulnerable, and the mentally ill.

The presence of a webcam in the hotel room where they died will also raise concerns that they may have been followers of suicide chat rooms, where people discuss their fantasies about killing themselves. Such sites attract “suicide voyeurs”.

Link to the June 14, 2010 article in the UK Times online: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article7149562.ece

I believe in free speech, but guys like Nitschke are dangerous and they don't care who dies from their ideology. 

Nitschke is planning a North American tour starting on October 7, 2010.
http://alexschadenberg.blogspot.com/2010/09/australias-dr-death-philip-nitschke.html

Australia's Dr. Death designs new suicide device

By Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Philip Nitschke, also known as Australia's Dr. Death, claims to have designed a new suicide device. Nitschke is also one of the early founders of the NuTech group and he is the leader of Exit International, a group that is devoted to developing suicide devices for assisting a suicide.

Suicide devices and methods are nothing new to Nitschke who is also known for his work on the "peaceful pill", a pill that he once said could be used by troubled teens. He is also known for promoting suicide tourism and encouraging people to go to Mexico to obtain veterinary drugs.

Nitschke said the method - which uses legally obtaining household products including a barbecue gas bottle - is “flawless” and has the unique characteristic of being undetectable which will make it harder to prove suicide.

Nitschke is not concerned whether the person who is seeking suicide is depressed or whether his device may be unsafe due to the combustible nature of the gas that his device uses.

Nitscke stated that: “It’s hard to see how the Government could possibly restrict access to common cylinders, and certainly there’s no way they could restrict access to (the gas),”

In the past the Australian government has confiscated his suicide devices and "Exit bags", they have outlawed the suicide counseling service that he operated via the internet and his book that he wrote to promote suicide and assisted suicide methods.

Link to article on suicide manual:
http://alexschadenberg.blogspot.com/2008/10/nitschke-launches-online-euthanasia.html

Earlier this year, Nitschke admitted that he did not disqualify Graeme Wylie from assisted suicide, even though he knew that he was suffering from dementia. Nitschke was willing to ignore the fact that Wylie was incompetent to make a proper decision in order to advocate for Wylie to die by suicide.

Link to previous article about Nitschke:
http://alexschadenberg.blogspot.com/2008/05/nitschke-hell-bent-on-assisted-suicide.html

The government is right to protect vulnerable people from Nitschke, who is more concerned about providing the means for people to die than making sure people are actually mentally or emotionally stable.

I am convinced that the media gives Nitschke attention because he offers entertainment. He is constantly creating new ways to break the law, if not the spirit of the law. He is continually promoting suicide, as if it should be the goal of society to encourage people to kill themselves. He is a colorful character. Too bad his entertainment will lead to the death of many vulnerable people.

Link article:
http://www.entertainmentandshowbiz.com/euthanasia-pioneer-unveils-undetectable-suicide-device-200812267748