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Home , Exit International, Fiona Stewart (author), Philip Nitschke

e-Deliverance Practical Options - Real Choices March 2005 New VE Book by Exit Director The first book to look at the Peaceful Pill and how it relates to VE

After more than a year in Quotes about the Book the making, 23 March, 2005 will see the launch of Philip ‘A book that advances the debate Nitschke’s first book - Killing on dying painlessly and with Me Softly: Voluntary dignity is welcome – particularly and the Road at this time.’ - Janet Holmes a to the Peaceful Pill - with his Court coauthor Dr . ‘Should people be able to learn The press release about to how to end their own lives? Philip be issued by the publishers, Nitschke makes a powerful and Penguin, states that the moving case for individual choice book is “a radical and in this debate.’ - Professor Peter compelling examination of Singer the current euthanasia debate.” About the Authors “Frustrated by continuing controversy and political inaction in this area, prominent activists Dr is the world’s leading Philip Nitschke and Fiona Stewart present a authority on , being the first powerful argument in favour of our doctor in the world to legally administer VE. as we choose. Their concerns include the way Philip gained a PhD in laser physics from in which the medical profession has assumed before going bush to work ‘ownership’ of death, and the fact that existing with land rights activist . It was laws restrict our end-of-life choices. They offer not until his mid 30s and after an accident to a future where a ‘Peaceful Pill’ could his foot, that Philip attended Sydney University revolutionise euthanasia just as the Medical School. He is now Director of Exit contraceptive pill transformed birth control a International. generation ago’. Dr Fiona Stewart is a public health sociologist This book is recommended reading, not just for who has worked as an academic, newspaper those who already believe we have the right to opinion writer and consultant. She became choose a dignified death but also for anyone involved in the euthanasia debate after meeting still to be persuaded.” Philip Nitschke at Brisbane’s Festival of Ideas in 2001.

This Edition New VE book on the Peaceful Pill 1 3rd Exit International Conference 2 5th Practical Handbook released 3 Workshops Timetable 3 Exit Editorial 3 Letters to Exit 4 The Exit Lifenet MND Project 5 Killing me Softly & Conference order forms 6 2.

Killing Me Softly (cont) Killing Me Softly will be available from book Books will be available for sale and signings shops for the RRP of $32.95. Exit is pleased to and afternoon tea will be served. This is a free offer members the discount price of $28.95 (plus event. postage). If you would like to order an advance, signed copy of Killing Me Softly, a form is Book Reading & Signing included on page 6. Victorian members of Exit International are Book Launch in Sydney invited to come along and meet Dr Nitschke at the Melbourne book reading and signing which Many NSW members will be attending the will be held on Saturday 2 April between 2pm launch of Killing Me Softly in Sydney on 23 and 4pm. This event will be in the Meeting March. For those unable to come, Exit is Room of the Toorak Library, 340 Toorak Rd Sth pleased to offer an additional afternoon of book Yarra. readings and signings by Dr Nitschke on Wednesday 30 March between 3pm and 5pm. Books will be available for sale and signing and This event will be held in the Studio of the afternoon tea will be served. This is also a free Dougherty Centre, 7 Victor St, Chatswood in event. Please note that similar sessions in other Sydney. No RSVP is necessary, simply come cities are planned. along on the day.

Preparations for Exit’s 3rd Biennial are well underway with a fascinating array of speakers currently being arranged. The conference will be held at the Mercure Hotel, 85-87 North Quay Brisbane on 3-4 September 2005.

At this stage Exit expects the conference to contain the following sessions:

– Tales from the Peanut (Peaceful Pill) Weekend – Too Sick to Live - Exit Clinics Unveiled with MND, MS, Emphysema, Cancer – People Power - VE as a New Social Movement – VE in the Media - the Politics of Portrayal and Betrayal – God’s Mandate in the House - the Role of Religion in Australian Politics Today – Law Reform vs Direct Action – Surviving the Next 3 Years – The Future for VE with this Federal Government

Other activities will include: street actions with a planned visit to Roma Street police HQ, book readings and signings, the presentation of the 2005 Bob Dent Award, as well as the opportunity to meet fellow Exit members from and overseas.

Exit member and Early bird discount registrations are open and available until April 7th. Accommodation is available both at the conference venue and at many other hotels/ motels nearby. An accommodation suggestion sheet is available from the Exit office or from www.exitinternational.net An early bird conference registration form is included on page 6. 3. Practical Workshop Handbook – 5th Edition Exitorial The Practical Workshop Handbook has recently It is with a sense of excitement that I write this been published in its 5th edition with important new month’s editorial from my office in Darwin. After additions from various Exit members. all, it’s not every day that one’s first book is about to be published. To obtain a copy of the 5th or subsequent editions of this free handbook, Exit members must have For many Exit members, Killing Me Softly may attended both an Introduction and Practical Workshop and have been a member of the come as a surprise whereas in reality this book has organization for 6 or more months. Members must been a good 18 months in the making. There are also have agreed to have their names listed as co- many people to be thanked, not least my co-author authors, regardless of their actual contribution to the Dr Fiona Stewart, who - as I say in the book - took current edition of the document. Among the a jumbled heap of half-finished papers and made highlights of the 5th edition is an excellent personal something truly remarkable out of them. story about the type of dignified, peaceful death that can be achieved using the prescription drug, Others who deserve mention are my agent Lynne Dolexene. Spender, and of course Bob Sessions, the Managing Editor at Penguin Books Australia. Bob has been The story is titled ‘My Sister Annie’, and provides fascinating insights for all those interested in this nothing short of brave in wanting to publish Killing pharmacological (drug) method of dying with dignity. Me Softly. VE remains a highly controversial issue, This story is timely given that recent media reports so the placing of VE, and in particular the Peaceful from the UK suggest that Doloxene is a fast- Pill, on the public record and in public debate is no disappearing drug from government schedules. Also mean feat. in this new edition is more information on the overseas availability of Nembutal. The 5th Edition At its heart, Killing Me Softly is a book about my of the Handbook lists more that 200 authors. shift in thinking away from legislation towards the DIY Peaceful Pill. Along the way we visit palliative Exit expects that at least two more editions of the care and slow euthanasia, as well as trying to Handbook will be published before Senate has the opportunity in July 2005 to amend analyse what it is about suicide that society so the Crimes Act, making the distribution to members abhors. of this type of Handbook illegal. Finally, it is hoped that this book will prevent the Exit Workshop Timetable Peaceful Pill and the Peanut Project from being misunderstood . I commend Killing Me Softly to The first Introduction Workshops for 2005 will be held: anyone interested in knowing where the global VE Wollongong - Saturday 19 March at 2pm movement is (or rather should be) headed. Sydney - Monday 21 March at 2pm Melbourne - Monday 4 April at 2pm Finally, this month we see the launch of the Exit LifeNet project. Yes, this is another instance of Exit A small number of places are still available at all of making a legal problem a political problem. these workshops. To attend, please phone the Exit office to reserve your spot. Announcements of other forthcoming workshops will be made in the April What makes this project so special is the peer edition of Deliverance. support that will provided between MND sufferers themselves. Exit member Leo was truly innovative Apologies to Exit Members in FNQ in creating LifeNet and I thank him very much for his ingenuity and input. Exit anticipated conducting both Introduction and Practical workshops in Cairns and Townsville in the early months of 2005. For reasons beyond our Contact Us control, these events have needed to be postponed Exit International until after the launch of Killing Me Softly. PO Box 37781 Darwin NT 0821 Australia ph 0500 83 1929 or fax 08 8983 2949 Exit Director Philip Nitschke expects to travel to FNQ [email protected] as soon as possible after the book launch to conduct workshops and meet Exit members. Private Donate to Exit screenings of Mademoiselle and the Doctor are also Exit relies on donations to fund its research & planned. ongoing workshop/ clinic programs Donations are accepted at any time BSB 035-302 Acc No 260756 4. Letters to Exit (Pseudonyms used) end it all successfully and Dear Dr Nitschke, Exit’s response painlessly when life becomes Have you finished working on Every day, Exit receives requests unbearable. the Peace Pill yet? I would from members and from the public be most interested to know seeking our help with their end of I am 82 years old, have a the ingredients as I have life options. And too often we can’t number of problems which will cancer. Would an overdose provide the help required . not go away, survived a bout of of heroin do the trick? I don’t cancer 10 years ago, which take drugs but living at the This is not because we do not want caused surprisingly little Kings Cross I could get some to help nor because we do not suffering, but what is troubling up the street if necessary. know the answer to the questions. me most is progressive vision Thank you. I am a member Rather, it is the severe legal loss … Recently I watched the of your club. penalties that are visited upon film Mademoiselle and the Sarah Freeman anyone who “advises, counsels or Doctor . I saw a group of old assists” another person to suicide. age pensioners learning to make Dear Compassionate Person, a CO generator. Not as I am 82 years old and have no Exit legal advisors have made it attractive as swallowing access to the Internet. A clear that we are not to engage in something but where could I friend, however, gave me your discussions (by phone or letter). learn to do that? I would be address. I do not know what Phones may be tapped and grateful to hear from you. Best is required of me, or what strangers may well be try to entrap regards and good wishes for your services are, but I am us. Remember, imprisonment for your work. very interested in a serene varies from 5 Geraldine Smith and comfortable end to my years in NSW to life in WA, life so would appreciate any Queensland and the NT. advice. What Exit can do, however, is About 20 years ago when I encourage people to join and lived in Sydney I belonged to a become members where some group of euthanasitists who legal protection for both parties is met at the Humanists Centre offered. on Broadway. I remember Philip Adams once coming and Members of Exit can bring their talking very sensibly about questions to workshops where this subject. I am in excellent they can be addressed in full. For health and so have not the those wanting privacy, Exit clinics Dear Exit, usual reasons for taking this are offered where questions can Would it be possible for you to long contemplated step. be answered confidentially . A send me a copy of the details telephone service is also available and instructions for making an I do not fear death, but I do for our remote members. Exit bag? I enclose a stamped fear strokes or any other addressed envelope for your illness that would cause me to Exit does not provide lethal reply. My partner and I have be dependent and perhaps too prescription drugs, nor do we sell been members of Exit for quite a incapacitated to reach the or distribute the Peaceful Pill, Exit number of years … and attended reassuring pills. I also do not bags or Carbon Monoxide kits. the workshop last year. want to get any older. I have What we do do though, is enable We found it very helpful and been young and I’ve been our members to access these look forward to a construction old….. and young is better. I options themselves. Information workshop in our area. look forward to hearing from is power! Jo Milner you. Gary O’Keefe

Dear Dr Nitschke, Exit’s Peaceful Pill Blogsheet It has taken me some time to Web Logs - or Blogs - are a convenient way of having uncensored pluck up the courage to write discussions about dying with dignity, and the Peaceful Pill. this as I understand that it is Exit International’s new blogsheet can be found at: illegal to assist or advise on safe and certain methods of ending http://voluntaryeuthanasia.blogspot.com one’s life. Yet for quite some Visit us & have your questions answered. Note: you will be prompted to time I have dreamt and hoped to join Blogger.com - like we have done - but it’s free have something at my disposal and it’s very, very easy. (at the ready) with which I could e-Deliverance

The EXIT MND LifeNet Project

Motor Neurone Disease (MND) is a condition which causes gradual paralysis of the body, trapping an active mind in a body which is unable to move. This makes basic daily functions such as breathing and swallowing difficult. Movement in the form of walking running or even bringing a glass of water to one’s lips can become next to impossible.

Sandy Williamson is perhaps the most high profile Exit member who had MND. Sandy told her story on 60 Minutes in 2002. She died shortly afterwards (although not until she spent 4 days in a coma in the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne after her drugs failed her). British MND sufferer, Diane Pretty, became a household name in the same year with her battle to be allowed to die with the help of her husband. Neither Sandy nor Diane achieved the peaceful, dignified deaths they so desperately sought. This is the irony. Their paralysis had them trapped. MND symbol: The Cornflower

At any one time, Exit has a number of people with MND on our clinic books. The main worry for these Exit members is their ability to self-administer drugs. Sufferers realise that if they leave it too late, they will need help to die. In asking for help, they may expose family and friends to significant legal risk. Exit has long pondered this problem. Recently, Leo, an Exit member and MND sufferer from Perth, suggested a solution. Leo offered to help a more seriously ill MND sufferer to die. This would remove any risk from the family of the sufferer.

As Leo put it: “What are they going to do to me? Arrest me, push me onto the stand in my wheelchair and sentence me for the crime of helping someone avoid what I’m about to go through?”

Leo has a point. What government would want their Director of Public Prosecutions to put a terminally ill person on trial for their life? A “crime” that was prompted by every Governments’ failure to adequately address the issue of dying with dignity.

With our MND LifeNet project, Exit is again seeking to turn a legal problem into a political problem that will be difficult for the Government to resolve.

Exit members with MND are currently being put in contact with each other to take this project further. MND sufferers helping each other. This strategy will keep families safe and bypass governments who failed these people so badly. Please call the Exit office for further information. Sandy Williamson Early Bird Conference Registration Form 3rd Exit International Conference 3-4 September 2005 - Brisbane

First Name(s)…………………...………Last Name……………………………………

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Exit Member Early Bird $170 ($190 after 7 April) (VE Society Members/ public $220 or $250 after April 7) (please indicate number)

Single Day rate $125 (please indicate number)

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Killing Me Softly Advance Book Order Form Exclusive: Signed copies for Exit Members ($28.95ea + postage $8.10 for up to 3 copies - total of $37.00 for one copy; RRP $32.95)

Killing Me Softly: Voluntary Euthanasia and the Road to the Peaceful Pill by Drs Philip Nitschke & Fiona Stewart (please indicate number)

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(Unfortunately, we can only accept cheques, money orders or cash at this stage for KMS. Please make cheques payable to “Exit Books”)