Foolishly "Foolproofing" Suicide
Part One of Three

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By Dave Andrusko

Every so often, as was the case this week, something will pop up that seems so bizarre on its face, you "know" it can't be true. Then, on further investigation, it quickly dawns on you that it is true, still another confirmation that we live in very strange times.

I scratched my head, trying to think of something that I could analogize this to, but I failed. This week's TIME magazine has a story under the headline (I am not kidding), "Foolproofing Suicide with Euthanasia Test Kits."

In a nutshell, there is a guy on the outer fringes of the outer fringe of the worldwide assisted suicide movement who is about to sell kits to people so they can make sure that the barbiturates they are going to ingest are the real McCoy, not diluted or outdated or lacking in sufficient potency.

According to TIME's William Lee Adams, Philip Nitschke (known as "Dr. Death" in his native Australia) is responding to "growing demand from members of Exit International, the organization he runs that distributes information on end-of-life methods." What exactly is the "demand"?

It seems that the group's members have increasingly chosen to use "sodium pentobarbital, a clear solution used to anesthetize cats, dogs and horses, from online sources based in Mexico and Southeast Asia" and (according to Nitschke) "For whatever reason, the suppliers have been taking off the label when they ship it."

Members of his 3,500-strong organization "want reassurance they've not just bought a bottle of water," Nitschke said. But it's not just a guarantee that they haven't paid for mere water.

"They want to know they have the right concentration of drugs so that if they take them in the suggested way, it will provide them with a peaceful death." Should these attempts "fail" and "the would-be suicide victim" survive, they risk "an array of complications including coma, reduced physical functioning and the opprobrium of disapproving friends and family."

The details of how the barbiturates will be tested are not important except to note this priceless quote from Nitschke: "Clearly, sterility doesn't matter given that death is the desired outcome."  According to TIME magazine, the kits will "debut" next month in Britain and "retail for $50."

Adams includes quotes from opponents, including Peter Saunders, director of Care Not Killing, an anti-euthanasia group in London. "Nitschke is an extremist and a self-publicist," Saunders says. "He will prey upon vulnerable people with these kits, and as a result they won't get the medical treatment and proper palliative care that they really need."

More generally, the story notes, "Others fear that healthy elderly people will feel pressure to end their lives, to avoid becoming a burden to their families, and that the kit will lead to a spike in suicides." But these are there only to give Nitschke the opportunity to show that he is the caring party (although they do make you wonder if even he believes what he says).

Access to these kits will "reduce anxiety," leading not to increase in suicides but less worry. "That's reassuring and empowering, and it also gives them cause to stop and think before acting," Nitschke says.

(Interestingly, immediately following that quote on TIME's website is a link to pictures of the "mass suicide" of Jim Jones' followers at Jonestown 30 years ago. You would think from the captions that go with the photos that the deaths of more than 900 men, women, and children were virtually entirely voluntary. But on the same page is a link to the journalist who wrote the definitive book about Jonestown. Tim Reiter man told TIME, "I believe that this was a mass murder.")

The story, as you would expect, finishes with that touch we've come to expect. Somebody, like Nitschke, goes "too far," but what can you expect say other assisted suicide proponents.

Without "a fully safeguarded law that protects the vulnerable and gives terminally ill adults the choice of an assisted death," says Sarah Wooten, chief executive of Dignity in Dying, "activism like this is likely to continue."

You can read Adams' apology for suicide at http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1890413,00.html

Part Two
Part Three