Suicide Promotion and the Death with Dignity Act

How to kill yourself workshop held in Washington for "well elderly."

Pandoras coffin, once opened, has become predictably difficult to close. Not even one year after the legalization of assisted suicide in Washington State, the normalization and expansion of the grim practice continues apace.

Opponents warned of the dangerous consequences of legalizing lethal drug overdoses for vulnerable ill people. They also warned that once one class of people has been targeted and made to feel as if they were a burden, another group would follow soon thereafter. Less than one year after legalization, these warnings became an all-too-frightening reality. Not only are people with life-limiting illnesses in Washington made to feel as if they should put themselves out of our misery via assisted suicide, but now the well elderly are at risk as well.

Washington State is being groomed to become a preferred destination for suicide-promoters and depressed seniors seeking to end their lives. Phillip Nitschke, from Exit International, sponsored a how to commit suicide workshop in Bellingham Washington on November 7th, 2009. His victims? Not only people with serious illnesses, but also those he describes as his core audience, the "well elderly."

Information about Exit International and Philip Nitschke

Nitschke, "The Australian 'Dr Death,' and his organization, Exit International, continues to target the "well elderly"(and very likely the disabled as well),with the information about how to kill themselves via pills, helium and nitrogen, and other ghoulish forms of suicide, including plastic suicide bags and Mexican animal euthanasia drugs. Having been discouraged from selling his wares and promoting suicide elsewhere, he is now turning his lethal gaze towards the US, including California and Washington State. Nitschke has talked about plans to open an office in Washington State, stating that Washington's assisted suicide law provides a favorable environment for his work. He even presented his suicide promotion workshop in Bellingham, Wa, where fortunately compassion advocates greatly outnumbered attendees.

The public library in Vancouver BC cancelled his scheduled talk there because of legal and police advice that it would be "an indictable offense to counsel or aid or abet any person to commit suicide." (The talk, which was rescheduled at a Unitarian church, did take place.) Even with the passage of the so-called Death With Dignity Act, Washington State still has a law on the books making it a Class C felony to promote suicide. Washington's RCW 9A.36.060 should be upheld and Nitschke should be prevented from setting up shop to sell suicide to seniors and people with disabilities, chronic conditions, and illnesses. Most other states and countries have laws on the books either contravening assisting in suicides or promoting suicide. Check the laws in your area and write to those in authority expressing your concerns, modifying the sample letters below as needed.

The Australian Dr Death targeted the well elderly with information about how to kill themselves via pills, helium and nitrogen, and other ghoulish forms of suicide, including plastic suicide bags and Mexican animal euthanasia drugs. Having been banned from promoting suicide in Australia and England, Nitschke turned towards Washington State. Even the public library in Vancouver BC initially refused to allow him to speak there, fearing that it would be an indictable offense to counsel or aid or abet any person to commit suicide.(He eventually spoke at a Unitarian church in B.C.)

Nitschke himself makes clear that the reason Washington state is such an attractive location for his unsavory suicide-promoting practice, is its new assisted suicide law. He deems the "liberal" assisted suicide law in Washington to be favorable to conducting suicide promotion workshops without legals sanction he has faced elsewhere, including in Austrailia, where his offices have been raided by police due to his aleged assistence in suicides.

Despite the still existing law in Washington State prohibiting the promotion of suicide, neither the Whatcom County prosecutor nor the State Attorney Generals office has yet indicated they will uphold current Washington law in this regard. Nor has the Department of Health investigated Nitschke or his suicide promotion workshops for elder abuse. Letters are being mailed to the Attorney General's offfice asking for a vigorous public and governmental response so Nitschke will be unable to follow through on his plans to set up a permanent suicide office in Bellingham WA in order to facilitate cross-border suicide tourism.

Advocates for the elderly and disabled held a Protect the Elderly from Suicide/Assisted Suicide" Demonstration on November 7th, 2009, with protestors far outnumbering Nitscke's staff and potential suicidal victims.

Write Letters & Emails

Ask Whatcom Prosecutor and Washington's AG to uphold laws against suicide promotion and prevent suicide tourism.

Contact your state Attorney General's office/local prosecutor.

If you are writing to lawmakers/AG's/ Prosecutors of other states or locales, please modify the letters according to your state's laws.)

Tell Attorney General's offices about the police raid on Nitschke's offices in Australia(see TCA's news section for details), his workshop topics (which you can find below), and his plans for opening a permanent office in Washington State. Let the Attorney General know that Nitschke's suicide promotion workshops are a violation of Washington State's suicide statute, RCW 9A.36.060.

Please note that Washington's so-called Death with Dignity Act did not overturn RCW 9A.36.060 and that Nitschke has said his "core" audience is the "well elderly," who are not terminally ill and do not qualify for legal assisted suicide even in Washington and Oregon. Ask the Attorney General's office and the Whatcom County prosecutor to take action now to protect seniors and prevent suicide-promotion and elder abuse. SEE BELOW FOR CONTACT INFO

SAMPLE MESSAGE CONTENT for Attorney General and Whatcom County Prosecutor for phone calls/emails/letters

I ask Washington's Attorney General to protect the "well elderly" from Philip Nitschke and Exit International and uphold RCW 9A.36.060 which outlaws the promotion of suicide attempts as a class C felony." I ask that the Attorney General research and investigate Exit International's activities and planned activities in Washington State in light of state laws with regard to elder abuse and the marketing and promotion of suicide.

Please note that Philip Nitschke and Exit International are the subject of an Australian police investigation. In the past, Nitschke has administered lethal injections to end four patients' lives in Australia, and caused a number suicides with his how-to suicide book, suicide-promotion workshops, and custom-made suicide paraphernalia. Nitschke, who has in the past been associated with such controversies as planning for a "voluntary" euthanasia boat to offer suicide on international waters, and making available "the knowledge, training, or resource necessary" to die by suicide "to anyone who wants it, including the depressed, the elderly bereaved, and the troubled teen," gave a workshop in Bellingham on November 7th, telling people 51 years and older how to commit suicide via barbiturates, inert gases, and an "exit bag"-a custom-made plastic bag with a draw string. http://www.truecompassionadvocates.org/news.html

Nitschke has stated he wanted to come back to Washington State because its recent legalization of assisted suicide is favorable and will make it easier for him to set up an office in Bellingham without the challenges he has faced in elsewhere. Nitschke's efforts to create a suicide tourism haven for depressed Americans and Canadians is deeply distressing to me and to every Washingtonian of good conscience. Please uphold Washington's suicide statute (RCW 9A.36.060. Below are the citations with regard to relevant Washington State law.

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=9A.36.060 http://appls.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=70.245.180

Thank you for your consideration. I would like to hear back from you about this urgent---and life threatening matter.

HERE IS THE CONTACT INFORMATION FOR WASHINGTON STATE:

Bill Elfo, Sheriff
Whatcom County Sheriff's Office
311 Grand Avenue
Bellingham, WA 98225
(360) 676-6784
Sheriff@co.whatcom.wa.us

David S. McEachran
Prosecuting Attorney
Courthouse, Suite 201
311 Grand Avenue
Bellingham, WA 98225
(360) 676-6784

Rob McKenna
Attorney General
1125 Washington St. SE
P.O. Box 40100
Olympia, WA 98504
(360) 753-6200

EXIT INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION

TCA editorial italicized comment accompany descriptions.

The titles of the 'how to kill yourself' workshop in Bellingham bring twisted semantics to a level unsurpassed even by George Orwell.

Topics at Nitschke's Suicide Promotion Workshop in Bellingham:

  • MYTHS & FACTS ABOUT PRESCRIPTION MEDICATION

    • Note: The myths and facts are about KILLING medications vs healing or comforting ones.

  • HELIUM, NITROGEN (& OTHER INERT GASES, INCLUDING FLOW CONTROL TECHNIQUES.)

    • Note: The helium is not used for party balloons, nor is the Nitrogen for dental work or any other life-saving or comfort enhancing endeavor. Once again, the 'flow control techniques' don't refer to Oxygen, but how to use poison gasses for optimum suicide (or homicide) technique.

  • NEMBUTAL(FROM SOUTH AMERICA, SE ASIA, CHINA, OVER THE NET, ETC) & THE LAW
    • Note: Nembutal is used as an animal euthanasia drug in Mexico but is currently unavailable in the US, where 'putting Grandma down like your dog' is not yet in vogue, despite the best efforts of radical suicide proponents.
  • SWISS OPTION (DIGNITAS SERVICE IN ZURICH) Note: Nitschke apparently discusses the suicide tourism in Switzerland positively, even as the Swiss government is in the midst of trying to eliminate the 'suicide tourism' inspired by Nitschke and his ilk. Now, as a result of the legalization of assisted suicide, Washington State is becoming such a 'suicide tourism' haven. Nitschke himself stated one of the reasons he wants to set up shop in Washington State is its 'liberal' assisted suicide laws and its proximity to Canada.
  • TESTING OF MEDICATIONS
    • Note: Apparently, here Nitschke advocates for suicidal individuals to test their death-dealing pharmaceuticals for optimum lethality.
  • WHY AN END OF LIFE PLAN KEEPS LOVED ONES SAFE

    • Note: Of all the Orwellian subjects in this 'Brave New World' workshop scenario, this is without doubt the most disturbing. An 'End of Life Plan which keeps loved ones Safe' really means a 'lethally suicidal plan which ensures a prematurely and unnaturally dead loved one, who may or may not have been suffering from grief, depression, dementia, mental illness, or the feeling of being a burden.'

  • WORKSHOPS ARE THE MOST RECENT UPDATES OF THE PEACEFUL PILL

    • Note: One could not, if one were to try, imagine a more bizarre name for a suicide-pill invention than the 'peaceful pill.' The marketing of such a suicide pill is really no different than the marketing of a gun for the same purpose--only the death-delivery system differs. The end result, a 'successful' suicide, is a sorrow and a tragedy for everyone involved, including the suicidal person, his or her family members, friends, and associates. And for Washington State law, which contravenes promoting and aiding in suicides.