October 24, 2014
Vale – Martin Burgess
Former Voluntary Euthanasia Candidate for the Northern Territory, Martin Burgess, died at his home in Darwin on Thursday 23 October after a long battle with bowel cancer.
It is expected that he died after drinking Nembutal that he obtained over the Internet after posting a plea on You Tube (see video below).
Speaking to The Australian in February 2013, Martin said of his cancer:
“The only thing I’ve got to look forward to if I don’t do the Switzerland trip is (becoming) Bryan on the cigarette packets,” Burgess says, referring to the anti-smoking warning labels that feature a photograph of an emaciated and pained Bryan Curtis shortly before his death from cancer.
“This is not a pretty way to go, mate. All the friends that I have would not be able to come and see me. I don’t want to put anybody through it, anyway, watch me slowly wilting away – it’s not on.”
The Australian wrote:
Burgess, for one, is remarkably upbeat for someone dying of cancer. He tells stories of his colourful life, particularly the most enjoyable last 20 years, and is humbled to have such wonderful friends.
He doesn’t want to kill himself, he just wants to be shown the same amount of compassion as a family dog hit by a car – for someone to put him out of his misery when the time is right.
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Martin Burgess stood for the VEP in the 2013 Federal Election for the House of Representatives seat of Solomon.
Earlier Martin had applied to the Swiss organisation Dignitas to receive assisted suicide in Zurich. His friends had all chipped in $ to enable him to make the one way trip. However as fate would have it, Martin ran into trouble when he could not fulfill the administrative requirements as he was born in the former Rhodesia and a birth certificate proved ever elusive.
As a result Martin was never able to receive the Dignitas ‘green light’.
Instead he stayed in Darwin, and relied on the Internet for help. (In early 2014, Perth man Laurie Strike, who was suffering from Melanoma, also obtained Nembutal after posting a plea on You Tube. It was Laurie’s example that Martin said he wanted to follow).
Vale – Martin Burgess