NEWS: The Age - 05/03/08 'Police raid homes of people with death wish'

[hoptis]

Police raid homes of people with death wish
March 5, 2008 - 5:54PM

Police have raided the homes of two Victorians who announced on television they planned to end their own lives.

Australian Federal Police (AFP) seized items including a diary from the country Victorian homes of Don Flounders, 78, and Angie Belecciu, 54, who are both terminally ill.

This morning's raids came after Mr Flounders and his wife Iris, 85, told the Seven Network they had recently travelled to Mexico to bring back the lethal drug Nembutal for himself and Ms Belecciu.

The AFP was searching for Nembutal, but found none at the two homes, AFP spokeswoman Alex Kirkham said.

Nembutal is banned for human use in Australia and it is also illegal to import or possess it, although it is allowed to be used in veterinary medicine.

Ms Kirkham said today's raids were part of an ongoing investigation.

"The AFP treats seriously allegations of importation of a border-controlled drug," she told AAP.

Euthanasia campaigner Philip Nitschke, who also went to Mexico with the couple - Ms Belecciu was too ill with breast cancer to travel - said the raids were heavy-handed.

"They now have to use their power to target the sick and vulnerable simply so they can totally remove any option of a peaceful death," he told AAP.

"I received desperate phone calls from Angie and Don while they were simultaneously going through their houses." Mr Flounders, speaking from his home at Warragul, south-east of Melbourne, said he was diagnosed with mesothelioma last August after being exposed to asbestos while working in sales for Shell in Melbourne in the 1960s.

"It is always fatal, it could be one, three or four years and it is devastating physically and mentally," he said.

"I don't want my family to see me deteriorate and disintegrate physically into a wreck of a person.

"It's my body, it's my choice, I feel very strongly that no one can tell me what to do with my body.

"If we have these methods of dying peacefully, why the hell is it illegal?"

Mr Flounders, whose wife's diary was seized, has been married for 57 years, has two children and four grandchildren whom he says support whatever decision he makes.

Ms Belecciu lives in Hastings, 70km south of Melbourne.

Dr Nitschke said people regularly flew to the US and crossed into Mexico by land to obtain Nembutal, which was usually used by veterinarians and was easily bought there.

"It is a fairly straightforward acquisition over the counter there," he said.

"It is a 100ml bottle of liquid and you go to sleep within a few minutes after taking it and it is peaceful."

Dr Nitschke said he had instructed the pair not to comment to police until they had lawyers present.

The Northern Territory passed historic legislation in 1995 allowing voluntary euthanasia but it was overturned by the federal government two years later.

AAP

The Age

 

[swilow]

For. Fucks. Sake.

If we have one real choice in life it is at least the manner in which we die.

 

[phase_dancer]

If we have one real choice in life it is at least the manner in which we die.

Not, it appears, if you tell anyone

This is disgusting, and only serves to further illustrate how important it is that these laws are changed - and soon!!

While I'd like to think I'd never opt for suicide, it's impossible to tell what the future may hold. I know other members of my family and some their friends think differently, and fair enough. How dare any person, government or regulatory body have any say in how someone of rational mind chooses to die, particulary if the person has a terminal disease. I have an auntie living outside of Australia who is dying of liver cancer. While I would stop short of physically assisting her to die, if, in the end she wishes to learn how to do this, I will have no hesitation in directing her to a place where she can find support and get such information.

Where do such legislative rulings come from? Look no further than Christianity. How dare any christian or other blind follower of faith dictate how and when my life will end

 

[Naja]

LMAO, Since when did u ever think u had any right to do, what u want, with your government owned body! Thats just crazy talk. If this were the case then it might also be our choice as to what we decide to put into our bodies and brains. And FFS we can't have people goin around thinking for themselves, thats also the governments job! If u have ever had an independant thought or decided that it was your right to consume anything u wished u should immediately hand yourself into the thought police.

Team america- world police

 

[phase_dancer]

LMAO, Since when did u ever think u had any right to do, what u want, with your government owned body!

From growing up in the 60s and 70s, I remember well a time when rational people had much more of a say in what they did to their bodies.

Many of todays illicit drugs were not illegal back then, something those of us in the know took full advantage of, and I never ever heard of terminally ill patients having their houses raided for announcing their intention to choose the time and place of their own death. As always has been the case, a good many people did choose to end their lives in this manner, often with help from relatives; an act which was (and still is) often without any legal consequence.

If noise isn't made about a situation, euthanasia often goes by unnoticed and in many cases is even condoned or unofficially encouraged by doctors. The starving of terminally ill patients isn't as uncommon as one might think.... but very seldom is it reported. I know of a relatively recent case, in another country, where everyone attending the funeral knew the circumstances of the lady's death. Suffering an extreme form of Motor Neuron Disease, this lady's life quality was beyond that acceptable to her. The only compassionate thing for her devoted family to do was to oblige her request, which they did. They also took advice on how to avoid possible legal consequences by doing this in a particular manner.

Then there are the many instances of palliative care where larger than required doses of morphine are intentionally administered. This goes on far more than the public realise, it's just not openly revealed. But talk to almost any nurse who has worked a few years in a nursing home. If honest, he/she will have stories to tell.

You see, if carers want to be humane in such situations, they're frequently forced into clandestine like secrecy. IMHO, there is more potential for abuse with the current system than if guidelines were established, as would be the case if a nationwide euthanasia policy was developed. As said, what I would like to see is religious based idealism removed from the argument. If that was to be done, there's very little of a case against legislating for voluntary euthanasia. The Howard government reversed the NT legislation, let's hope this government can see further than the bible and re-establish the right to choose.

I also don't think this subject can be compared to illicit drug use. Illicit drug use can often have ongoing consequences, in which the user can become dependant or have unexpected outcomes. While I'm all for drug reform in relation to rec drug use, its something very different from making a life and death decision based upon quality of life - or the lack of it.

If I was suffering a terminal condition, was in extreme pain and a burden to all around me, just who or what do anti euthanasia laws protect anyway? Don't say my soul, I exchanged that in 1976 for guitar lessons

 

[Mr. White]

TBH it was pretty stupid to go on national tv with video evidence of committing a crime and announcing that you have the intent to commit another

this comes back to one of the most convincing arguments i've heard for drug decriminalization, that i should have the absolute right to put whatever i want into my body. Sure, regulate things, get rid of the quetionable quality/purity of drugs, but give me the right to choose what i take