Second town venue bans 'Dr Death'

A controversial euthanasia expert dubbed "Dr Death" said he was banned a second time from hosting a DIY suicide workshop in a seaside town.

Dr Philip Nitschke was due to host the event in Bournemouth but a council-owned adult education centre pulled the plug and now his second venue, the Hermitage Hotel, has also cancelled.

He chose the Dorset town because of its large number of elderly residents and still hopes to find another venue.

He said: "It makes it very hard to carry out this sort of operation and, given the level of interest in what we offer, it will deny people access to the best information."

Another workshop is taking place in London, when participants will learn about his DIY suicide kit, including a helium-filled "exit bag", drugs from Mexico, morphine and DIY Peaceful Pills.

It will follow the launch of an online version of his book The Peaceful Pill eHandbook, which is banned in Australia.

Dr Nitschke, who founded the right-to-die organisation Exit International, said denying him access to venues was a form of censorship in a supposedly "open and free" society.

The 61-year-old from Darwin, Australia, added: "Elderly people want access to good information. It empowers them, they have a better quality of life and paradoxically they live longer because they have the peace of mind of an exit strategy."

He was the first doctor in the world to administer lethal injections to end four patients' lives after voluntary euthanasia was made legal in the Northern Territory of Australia in 1996.

He used a "Deliverance Machine" to aid their suicides, which has since gone on display in the British Science Museum.

Share this article

Send this article to a friend »

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Reddit
• Facebook
• StumbleUpon

What are these?