Go gentle into that good night

Australian Philip Nitschke is possibly the most controversial doctor of present times. Dubbed 'Doctor Death', Nitschke gives advice worldwide on how to carry out a "painless, peaceful and reliable" death by suicide. The organisation he founded, Exit International conducts workshops on assisted suicide. Exit International visited Ireland for the first time this week, and Dr Nitschke spoke to Joe Galvin of Politico at the workshop.

"It's our first visit to Ireland, so it's important that we're able to expose people who are interested to [Exit International's ideas]," said Nitschke. "As a first visit...we really hope to be able to set up embryonic organisations so that when we come back again...we won't have to go through the experiences we have gone through in the past few days trying to find a venue."

Four venues - The Outhouse, Buswell's Hotel, The Macro Building and the Carmichael Centre - had agreed to hold Exit International's seminar before eventually cancelling. Nitschke said he had "never seen anything like this degree of opposition [to one of his seminars] in the form of venue cancellation". Indeed, the workshop has been met with considerable resistance - Catholic groups Youth Defence and the Life Institute strongly opposed Exit International's visit. Members of Atheist Ireland finally found a venue for Dr. Nitschke's workshop at Seomra Spraoi, a small social centre near Mountjoy Square in Dublin city centre.

Those attending the seminar were, aside from the extensive media presence, almost entirely over 60 years of age. This fits the typical profile of Exit's patrons - the elderly and terminally ill. "The average age of our [members] is 75," said Nitschke. "The young aren't coming to our workshops."

The seminar itself was informative and yet strangely poignant. Nuggets of practical information on suicide were interspersed with video testimonies from patrons who had since put this information to use. These emotional accounts offered a reminder of the suicide's profundity.

For Nitschke, delivering information on assisted suicide is about providing choice. "I'm not telling people what they should or shouldn't do," he said. "The fact is some people, and it's a growing number of people, say they want [the option of suicide]."

He says that terminally ill patients find comfort in having control of death. He also says that that "non-medical" elderly people equally deserve the choice to control death. "People are living longer, people are saying they've had enough and want to go," said Nitschke. "We generally understand and agree to help people with that criteria...we're not talking about mentally ill people here. We're talking about people who have made a rational decision to end their life...we think they should have what they need to know."

This is perhaps the most contentious issues supported by Exit International. Opponents say that assisted suicide for "non-medical" cases can be abused. Indeed, much of Exit's literature has been banned and censored in Nitschke's native country. The Vatican, in its statement on euthanasia, said that the pleas of those who ask for death are "almost always a case of an anguished plea for help and love".

Nitschke is not convinced. "When people say after considerable reflection... that they want a peaceful death and we turn our backs on them and say you cannot have that option I think you're turning your back on someone," he said. "People want to know their voices are being listened to and their options are being provided."

"I don't like the idea that some people who oppose it try to dictate to another group what they can and cannot do," he said. "Those [who oppose us] need not come along. Suicide, and I have to keep saying this, is not a crime."

At the end of the information seminar, the media was ushered out of Seomra Spraoi's temporary conference room. Only those aged over 50 and certain attendants in special circumstances were allowed to attend the workshop.

Audio: Short interview with Philip Nitschke

{mp3 width="400"}Interview with Dr Death Philip Nitschke{/mp3}