A pro-assisted suicide campaigner, who invented the Sarco gas chamber assisted suicide pod, has been accused of publishing material online that has reportedly been linked to the deaths of over 90 people in the United Kingdom, including the suicides of several teenagers.
Dr Philip Nitschke, a former GP nicknamed ‘Dr Death’, said he published details of a lethal poison, which he described as offering a “cheap” and “reliable” method of achieving a “peaceful death”, in an online suicide “handbook”.
Nitschke also said that he introduced the poison to Kenneth Law, a former chef who then began selling the poison and who has been linked to more than 90 deaths in the UK. Law is currently awaiting trial on 14 charges of first-degree murder and 14 counts of aiding and counselling suicide.
Law allegedly offered a lethal substance and other methods of committing suicide on now-defunct websites called “Imtime Cuisine” and “Escape Mode”. Over 1,200 packages are thought to have been ordered from these websites and delivered to people in 40 countries around the world.
Dr Death defends selling poisons online, says it may create a “healthier society”
Nitschke reportedly defended the actions of Law, claiming that he was only providing people with the choice of how to end their lives. “We published Ken Law’s contact details in the [online suicide handbook]”, Nitschke said, telling people that “Amazon don’t sell [the poison] anymore, go to Ken Law – and they did”.
“The information got on to the internet, younger people started to take it and die”, Nitschke said. “Now the parents of younger people who end their lives are understandably very distressed”.
“They were very unhappy about us. They said ‘why did you publish that information?’”. Nitschke defended these actions, saying, “On end of life choices, I say a healthier society is where people know the information and can make informed decisions about how they act”.
“If you don’t know how to die you sit there, look at the wall, smile and live forever. I think it’s naive”, he continued.
Father of 22-year-old who died after taking the poison criticised Nitschke, saying he “openly encourages and facilitates” suicide
David Parfett, whose 22-year-old son, Tom, bought the poison from Law and died as a result of ingesting it, said that his son used Nitschke’s research into suicide methods to inform his decision on how to end his life.
“I know my son would still be alive and would have found the support he needed to get through his dark times if taking his own life hadn’t been encouraged as a valid option”, Parfett said. He continued, criticising Nitschke’s defence, saying he “openly encourages and facilitates people to take their own life”.
“[Nitschke’s] research into suicide methods has been published in detail in books and online and was used by my son Tom to choose a suicide method and kill himself”, he said.
He continued, suggested that Nitschke and Law, by making it so easy to buy the poison online, had “effectively handed a loaded gun to my son”.
Nitschke has previously been questioned by the Metropolitan Police due to a workshop on DIY suicide that he held in London in 2013, with the police attempting to ascertain whether such a workshop amounted to the crimes of assisting or inciting suicide. Ultimately, he was released without charge.
Nitschke is also currently under investigation by authorities in Switzerland over allegations of illegally assisting suicide through his role in the first suicide using the Sarco gas chamber assisted suicide pod, which he invented.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “It is sickening to hear of how this disgraced former GP has published material online that many vulnerable people have used to end their lives, and that he is defending the horrific actions of Kenneth Law, who sold the poison”.
“If assisted suicide were to become legal in England and Wales, legal academics have confirmed that the assisted suicide pods invented by Nitschke will be legal under the assisted suicide Bill with the Health Secretary’s approval. We must never allow the actions of such men to be vindicated, and we must never allow this dangerous Bill to become law”.
