Opinion Editorials
November 8, 2015
Andrew Denton Falls for Doctors’ Spin in Euthanasia Debate
Fiona Stewart, Sydney Morning Herald
For at least the past two decades, Melbourne urologist Dr Rodney Syme has been advocating medically-controlled voluntary euthanasia, or assisted suicide as it is now called. An alumni of the Melbourne establishment, Syme has insisted that a “good doctor” should distribute Nembutal to patients who he considers worthy. The decision would be the doctor’s alone. […]
October 24, 2015
A life well lived; a death journey unexpected
Dr David Swanton, The Canberra Times
I am exasperated, devastated, and relieved. I’ve experienced these emotions during the recent death of my mother. She said, in one of her last phone calls to me, that ‘I was told that it would be painless, and I’m so cranky’. My mum, Bet to her friends, had pancreatic cancer. From her diagnosis in April […]
November 19, 2014
Rational suicide is a challenge that we must face
Philip Nitschke, Sydney Morning Herald
The debate in recent weeks about end-of-life choices has undoubtedly raised some uncomfortable issues. While some have accused me of expounding black-white views on rational suicide, snidely remarking that such opinions belong in first-year university philosophy, the conversation started with my trial in Darwin over my medical registration is far from Voluntary Euthanasia 101. Rather, […]