Wed April 16 1999 The Australian Opinion Ill-judged response to public act of mercy In 1913 Cristabel Pankhurst, member of the Women's Social and Political Union, the most militant of the suffragist organisations, was kicked down stairs, and forcibly ejected from a building because she asked Sir Edward Gray what the intentions of British government were for the suffrage of women. He refused to answer, and Cristabel was arrested and jailed. Although I can find no record of the comments made at the time of sentencing, it is likely that the words would have been similar to those uttered by judge Jessica Cooper who stated, when sentensing Jack Kevorkian in Michigan yesterday, that his "actions were about lawlessness. It was about disrespect for a society that exists because of the strength of the legal system". She added, " No one, sir, is above the law. No one". In 1928 English women were fully enfranchised. We will now have to wait to see how long it will take before actions such as those taken by Jack Kevorkian in responding to the request for help by dying Thomas Youk, will not be considered a crime and will not result in a doctor being sent to prison for 10 to 25 years. Judge Cooper's words echoed around the world as she lectured Kevorkian on the rule of law. "You had the audacity to go on national television, show the world what you did and dare the legal system to stop you. Well sir, consider yourself stopped". Here one senses the true nature of Kevorkian's 'crime'. Jack Kevorkian had the audacity to be open, and to be truthful. Had he kept the process quiet, behind closed doors, under the carpet, no case would ever have had to come to court, and he could have continued on his way, quietly helping people to die. Some terminally ill patients would still continue to get the help they need to determine the point at which they wished to die. But it would be a situation in which inequity and injustice prevail, and the most compelling reason for a government to act and introduce good euthanasia legislation. Marshall Perron's bill in the Northern territory was just such an attempt to address this injustice. It wasn't perfect, but it was the first time in the world that legislation had been attempted, and it worked. When I watched the US '60 Minutes' report of Jack Kevorkian administering a lethal injection to a dying man who had requested such assistance, I saw a doctor engaging in something that I had previously done on four separate occasions in the Northern Territrory. Clearly, in each of those cases, I killed a patient who had asked for my help. But because of the Territory's Rights of the Ternminally Ill legisltation, I wasn't subject to any legal sensure: Jack Kevorkian will spent 10 to 20 years in prison. I left the rooms of my four patients knowing that I had done the right thing. There was no guilt and no remorse, just the sadness that comes from losing someone that one has become close to; I'm sure Jack would have had those exact same feelings. I didn't commit a crime, neither did he. Australian doctors watching the outcome of the Kevorkian trial may well feel a cold feeling in the back of the neck. They will realise just how close they have may have come to experiencing the savagery of the law as they continue to try desperately to respond to the very reasonable requests that come from patients like Thomas Youk. The doctor's response is more likely now to be a predictable withdrawl away from these dangerous situations. Patients who are already finding the greatest difficulty in accessing the accurate information needed to be able to make an informed choice on this most vital issue will see that the game is now even more loaded, and even more inequitable. Many will resort to the most common method of suicide now used by those over 75yrs in Australian society, hanging themselves by a rope. The haranguing words of Judge Jessica Cooper will do nothing to advance this important social reform. And despite claims to the contary, her decision can only encourage the lawlessness of the backyard practices that have come to typify the voluntary euthanasia of today. Philip Nitschke April 15, 1999