August 22, 2017

Voluntary euthanasia advocate Dr Philip Nitschke in Adelaide for seminar

Lauren Novak, The Adelaide Advertiser

VOLUNTARY euthanasia advocate Dr Philip Nitschke will run a workshop in Adelaide on Monday on new end-of-life and suicide “options” for elderly attendees.

About 100 people are expected to attend the forum, at the Prospect Town Hall from 1pm.

Dr Nitschke is also calling on SA Police to return items taken during a raid of his Exit International Adelaide office in 2014, following the death of prominent euthanasia campaigner Max Bromson.

Mr Bromson died in a Glenelg motel in July, 2014, with his family by his side, after he ingested the drug Nembutal.

His death was recorded on video by family members and the recording was later provided to SA Police.

The South Australian Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions decided, in August last year, not to lay charges stemming from the raid.

However, Dr Nitschke said items, including mobile phones, computers, documents and “phials of suspicious white powder” taken in the raid, remained with police.

“The seized items are not the property of the police and they have no right to hold them indefinitely,” Dr Nitschke said.

“To do this when there is no investigation pending, amounts to the theft of my possessions.”

Dr Nitschke, now based in the Netherlands, is visiting Australia for a national tour.

The most recent push to legalise voluntary euthanasia in SA was defeated by a single vote in Parliament in November last year.

MPs spent five hours debating every line of the legislation, which would have allowed terminally ill people to request voluntary euthanasia in certain circumstances.

It was only the second time debate on the issue had reached such an advanced stage.