Mercy-killing advocate seeks base for clinics

Australian pro-euthanasia campaigner Philip Nitschke is seeking doctors' rooms to hold suicide advice clinics, due to start in Auckland and Wellington in January.

Dr Nitschke announced plans to bring his voluntary euthanasia clinics to New Zealand after visiting here in July, when hundreds of people turned out to hear him speak around the country.

Associate Health Minister Ruth Dyson said yesterday that she personally had no difficulty with Dr Nitschke's promotion of euthanasia but did not know whether his suicide advice clinics would be legal in New Zealand.

"It's often confused with the issue surrounding depression or suicide and I'm very keen to make sure there's a clear separation between those issues," she said.

The controversial doctor is barred from practising medicine in Western Australia. He had helped four people to die during a brief period when euthanasia was legal in the Northern Territory before the law was overturned in 1996.

Speaking from Broken Hill in New South Wales, where he conducts euthanasia advisory clinics, Dr Nitschke said he had received a lot of support for his clinics in New Zealand.

A complaint against him from the Australian Medical Association had just been rejected by the Medical Practitioners Board, freeing him to apply to the New Zealand Medical Council for registration. The council had said it would not treat his application any differently from others.

Dr Nitschke said he would hold clinics for four days in Auckland and three in Wellington during January, for which a "sympathetic" doctor's venue would be needed.

"Most people get seen in their own homes, but I do need a venue for those not seen in their home."

Dr Nitschke said he expected to hold suicide advice clinics in New Zealand every six months, depending on demand.

He had previously said the clinics would give legal advice to relatives of those wishing to end their lives, as well as practical advice on lethal dosages and potential dangers.

Philip Rushmer, chairman of the Medical Association's general practitioners' council, said yesterday that the association opposed assisted suicide. He questioned the ethics and legalities of GPs allowing their rooms to be used for Dr Nitschke's consultations.

"I suppose it's up to the individual GP, but I would not allow my rooms to be used for that ... At the moment it [euthanasia] is illegal in New Zealand and it's not supported by the [Medical Association]."

Dr Rushmer said he believed most GPs opposed euthanasia.

National's health spokesman, Wyatt Creech, said he opposed euthanasia, but it was a conscience issue and the party did not have a position on it.

- NZPA