Euthanasia advocate Philip Nitschke has been accused of being recklessly indifferent to the interests of a 45-year-old man who committed suicide after communicating with him in an email exchange.
The euthanasia campaigner says Perth man Nigel Brayley made a "rational" decision to end his life, although he admits he may not be "well-trained" enough to assess the mental health of those who approach him for help.
Mr Brayley, 45, began emailing Dr Nitschke after police launched a murder investigation into his wife's death.
He did not have a terminal illness, but Dr Nitschke supported his decision to take his own life.
Mr Brayley was later found dead with the suicide drug Nembutal in his system. At no stage did Dr Nitschke suggest Mr Brayley seek help for mental illness.
Mental health advocates have condemned the notion of "rational suicide" and say, as a medical practitioner, Dr Nitschke was obliged to refer Mr Brayley for psychiatric help.
Psychiatrist Dr Chris Ryan says providing information which facilitates suicide in such cases is indifferent to the best interests of the person involved.
"Many people that do want to end their lives are depressed, and sometimes those depressed people lose the capacity to make that decision," he said.
"They can just begin to feel that everything is hopeless, that there's no possible way that things could improve, and that's as a result of the depression.
"In those cases, you would say that the person didn't have capacity and you wouldn't be supporting them in going through with a decision that they're not really making."
Dr Ryan says it would be "almost impossible to make that sort of assessment over email".
But Dr Nitschke says those interacting with his organisation, Exit International, are not his patients, and he will not "come along and define them as sick and send them off to a doctor".
"They're not my patients ... they're people that come along and interact with our organisation in a very clear and rational way and I think their views need to be respected rather than defined as sick," he said.
"Maybe I'm not trained well enough but in my opinion they are not psychiatrically ill ... they've made a clear decision that now's the time they wish to die."
Dr Nitschke says he is being contacted by a growing number of people without terminal medical conditions who want to die.
'Suicide should never be seen as euthanasia'The Black Dog institute, which advocates for those with mood disorders, says Dr Nitschke has "significantly raised the probability of suicide in the community" by providing direct access to the means required to take one's life.
"Suicide should never be seen as euthanasia," the institute said in a statement on its website.
"Unlike euthanasia, suicide is most often not a choice made by someone of free will.
"Suicide is not a terminal disease ... with the right treatment and support, suicide is preventable in almost every single case."
Western Australia's mental health commissioner Tim Marney says many people who survive after trying to take their own life are glad they did not die.
"I've had personal experience of a number of people who have committed suicide and a number of people who have tried to commit suicide and are still here, and I can tell you, they thought it was rational at the time," he said.
"Looking back, they're bloody glad they failed."
Claims Nitschke has hurt campaign for voluntary euthanasiaThe Greens have a bill before Federal Parliament to make euthanasia legal for the terminally ill only.
But Dr Ryan, who is on the board of Dying with Dignity, says Dr Nitschke may have set back the campaign for voluntary euthanasia.
"I think, ironically, it works against that ... because what organisations like Dying with Dignity are pursuing is a change in legislation through the Parliament," Dr Ryan said.
"But Dr Nitschke seems to just go around the law and I think that does harm rather than good."
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/24389172/philip-nitschke-under-fire-over-rational-suicide-remarks-in-wake-of-perths-mans-nembutal-death/
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