March 5, 2014
Nitschke accused of normalising suicide
EUTHANASIA advocate Dr Philip Nitschke is facing a fresh challenge to his medical registration after a complaint that he told colleagues assisted suicide should be made possible for social reasons, like the inability to play golf.
Perth-based pain management specialist Dr Mark Schutze, who lodged the complaint with AHPRA, told MO that during a seminar organised by doctors at the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Dr Nitschke argued that anyone over the age of 70 should have the right to euthanasia.
Dr Schutze alleges that Dr Nitschke advocated euthanasia for those grieving the loss of a spouse or prevented from partaking in hobbies such as golf due to poor health.
“My concern is that he is creating an impression that suicide can be normalised,” Dr Schutze said. “I think that is a dangerous and very extreme view that is not part of medicine. I don’t think he is entitled to hold a medical registration if that is what he is promoting.
“If it becomes a community norm to simply… end it all, then you will see a rise in the number of suicides and an increase in death rates among people who do not have to die, and I think it is really irresponsible.”
However, Dr Nitschke hit back, saying the examples cited by Dr Schutze were actual reasons people had given him when seeking advice or help with euthanasia plans.
Dr Nitschke maintains that he did not advocate euthanasia as a solution when discussing these cases.
He said he used the examples to pose hypothetical questions to the audience to gauge reaction and discuss how such requests would be handled.
“It is an outrageous complaint which AHPRA should have dismissed,” he said.
“In a discussion among medical professionals, there ought to be a degree of ability to speak openly and freely, especially when they have requested to hear about my experiences.”
AHPRA has asked that Dr Nitschke provide a response to the complaint by 28 March but said he planned to seek an extension until after he runs in the federal senate election in WA on 5 April.
Two separate AHPRA investigations into Dr Nitschke regarding the unregistered barbiturate Nembutal and the advocacy of inhaled nitrogen for hypoxic death are ongoing.