March 8, 2015
Sudden death of lawyer threatens to derail Philip Nitschke’s resurrection
Euthanasia campaigner Philip Nitschke’s campaign to win back his registration to practise medicine is in disarray following the sudden death of his pro bono counsel and fellow activist Peter Nugent.
In an email to Fairfax Media, Mr Nitschke said that Mr Nugent had been suffering stage four cancer, and “was well prepared, and had options in place” for ending his own life. However, he had been responding well to chemotherapy, seemed to be in a good state of based on their communications, was excited about the upcoming court case and suicide seemed unlikely.
He described Mr Nugent’s death as a “shock”, “perplexing” and “a great loss”.
Mr Nugent was preparing for an April hearing in the Supreme Court in Darwin to challenge Mr Nitschke’s suspension by the Northern Territory Health Professional Review Tribunal in July last year.
Mr Nitschke was struck off by the Medical Board of Australia after reportedly admitting to supporting a 45-year-old Perth man’s decision to take his own life despite knowing the man was not terminally ill. The man, Nigel Brayley, wasn’t a patient of the then Dr Nitschke.
The tribunal later supported the board’s decision. The medical board has since added 12 charges that allege further professional misconduct.
Mr Nitschke said, “Given that suicide is not illegal, Peter [Nugent] argued that their decision was in breach of common law provisions, something the NT Tribunal panel of doctors either didn’t realise or care about. Hence, the importance of having this reviewed in law, in the NT Supreme Court.”
Regarding the additional charges, Nitschke said: “They are clearly unhappy that the Brayley decision is under legal scrutiny, and want to push ahead while they can with this new round of blatantly political charges.”
Mr Nitschke, who heads the pro-euthanasia group Exit International, of which Mr Nugent was a member, said he was now scrambling to find another QC to act for him pro bono.
He said Exit International had raised about $200,000 through a crowdfunding appeal, but had “spent most of it with solicitor and incidental fees”.
Regarding his own financial standing, he wrote: “The suspension hasn’t affected my income, in fact it’s probably increased it, with a sharp rise in sales of my Peaceful Pill Handbook, and membership of Exit.”
Mr Nitschke was writing from the UK where he has “been preparing a show for the Edinburgh Comedy Festival on euthanasia (and the antics of the Medical Board – which lends itself well to comedy).”
These plans, he said, have been put on hold. “I’ll have to come back to [Australia and] try to sort out this mess.”
In any event, he said, the show will run in the Melbourne Comedy Festival in 2016.