April 1, 2015
Nitschke fight heads to Supreme Court
The medical profession should engage with euthanasia rather than trying to silence people, campaigner Philip Nitschke says.
Dr Nitschke will take his battle with the Medical Board of Australia to the Supreme Court on Wednesday, after it upheld the suspension of his medical licence.
It was suspended in July, a year after Perth man Nigel Brayley, 45, took his own life after corresponding with Dr Nitschke, who was not his doctor.
[Editor’s note: Brayley had been being investigated for the mysterious deaths of 2 formers wives by the WA Police. His detailed suicide note indicated his suicide was the result of an informed and considered choice.]
Dr Nitschke maintains there was nothing wrong or unlawful in his communications with Mr Brayley as they had no doctor-patient relationship and that he is being targeted because of his work with end-of-life organisation Exit International.
In November, the Northern Territory Health Professional Review Tribunal upheld the decision to suspend his licence.
Dr Nitschke told ABC radio on Wednesday that the “predatory attempt to silence” him by stripping him of his medical title would make no actual difference, as he remains a doctor of physics.
But he said he didn’t like the way his licence to practise medicine was stripped.
“They made it quite clear… that they don’t like the fact that I’m advocating in the way that I do, and I’m able to call myself doctor; they’ve said to me they would be happier if I wasn’t a doctor,” he said.
“I don’t know why they’re pursuing it with such enthusiasm, but the medical profession has a long history of moving people they don’t like out, and I think they really have to accept the fact that the world’s changing, people want options at end of life, and the medical profession is going to have to engage with this issue rather than just trying to silence people.”
The case is set down to be heard for two days in Darwin.
Editor’s note –
In a statement, Exit International has said that this appeal is held in the memory of Melbourne barrister, Peter Nugent.
Following the hearing on 1 – 2 April, the Supreme Court has reserved its decision.