Nitschke Urges ACT Law Change

Nitschke urges ACT law change, Aug. 26, 2009.

Right-to-die advocate Dr Philip Nitschke has called for the ACT Public Advocate to be granted the authority to consent to the withdrawal and withholding of medical treatment, after Canberra doctors were forced to go to court seeking clarification of the law.

ACT Supreme Court Chief Justice Terence Higgins is deliberating on whether to declare it lawful for Canberra Hospital doctors to allow a mentally ill man to starve to death, on the grounds that it would be inhumane to force-feed him.

The ACT Public Advocate Anita Phillips, the man's legal guardian, supports ACT Health's application, accepting the view of his treating doctors that force-feeding him would be inhumane and futile.

The 69-year-old Romanian migrant suffers from schizophrenia and during increasingly frequent psychotic episodes believes fasting will bring him closer to God, and Jesus will prevent him from dying of malnutrition.

He has not eaten for two weeks, weighs 41kg, and if force-feeding does not start within days he will die.

While other Australian jurisdictions have provisions in their guardianship laws authorising the public advocate to consent to both the administering and withdrawal of medical treatment, in the ACT the powers only extend to the giving of treatment.

By Victor Violante, The Canberra Times