"That's a very serious penalty for helping someone do something that's lawful."
It was a "savage penalty," Dr Nitschke said.
"The law in its current form discriminates against someone when they're sickest. If you become so sick that you're desperate for a peaceful death, so sick in fact that you can't carry out the steps yourself because you're so disabled by your illness that you have to ask someone to help you, that person runs serious legal risks."
The most common method of suicide for elderly people in New Zealand and Australia was by hanging, he said.
"That is a grim and horrible death."
Politicians needed to have the courage to change the law, Dr Nitschke said.
Labour MP Maryan Street's End of Life Choice Bill was yet to be debated in Parliament, but if it was pulled from the ballot box, it needed to be supported, he said.
The bill proposes that euthanasia should be a choice for people with a terminal illness, as well as those suffering an irreversible chronic physical or mental condition.
"(It is) I think one of the best pieces of law drafted on this issue."
People with chronic conditions were not necessarily terminal, but they should still be given the option to choose to die, Dr Nitschke said.
"Let's hope this law passes. It's the most progressive in the world."
Wellington City Council spokesman Richard MacLean said the council was not aware the meeting was being held in the library.
"(But) all sorts of organisations use the room for meetings where all sorts of contentious issues are debated, so as far as we're concerned a debate about euthanasia is a legitimate use of the room."
He said the council had not received any complaints about the meeting being held in a public building.
"But if it does become a massive controversy and people start objecting, then we'll take a closer look at it."
Where euthanasia is legal:
* Netherlands;
* Belgium;
* Luxembourg;
* Switzerland; and
* Montana, Oregon, and Washington in the United States.
