The year that was thanks to COVID-19 but it was not all bad news.  Exit’s Doxit Podcast ‘Looking Back Looking Forward’ reflects on the  good and the bad to come out of the pandemic experience. For example,  like so many organisations around the world, Exit moved our core  operations online. Face to face workshops were abandoned in preference  of Zoom workshops. Four, fully-online 4 hour meetings were held between  June and October across different global time zones.

The NuTech 2020 conference was also held entirely online in  September. In retrospect, it seems perfect practice to have  live-streamed the last two NuTech meets in 2017 and 2018 (in addition to  in-room attendance). The step to virtual was never going to be too  hard!

But COVID-19 also generated the odd good development. Not only  did Donald Trump tell the world about Chloroquine (albeit as a  life-preserver rather than ‘ender’), but developers created new  anti-viral devices; helmets which may well be valuable when it comes to  the use of gases for a peaceful and reliable end of life choice (more to  come in the PPeH).

The first Doxit Podcast for 2021 examines these issues and more; including our forthcoming Exit Mini Monthly Workshops – Snippets –  which commence online Wednesday 3 February at 21.00 GMT. Registrations will open Sunday 10 January.

From 25 years ago when voluntary euthanasia for the terminally ill was so controversial that the Federal Government of Australia used a hitherto unknown section of the Australian Constitution (s122) to overturn the Northern Territory's Rights of the Terminally Ill Act to today when politicians can't act fast enough getting behind assisted dying laws as a show of compassion and humanity, the right to die has come a long way.

And so 2020 draws to a close with New Zealand finally passing a binding referendum that will see an End of Life Choice Act introduced in that country while Queensland makes Dying with Dignity an election promise. Meanwhile in Tasmania, politicians are falling over themselves as defenders of human rights at the end of life.

This Doxit Podcast discusses the pros/ cons of a medicalised legislative model, in terms of who is served and who is excluded from eligibility, asking is this the best way forward? 

In this Doxit Podcast we explore the physiology behind the good death.

Taking the recent new Peaceful Pill eHandbook chapter on 'Death Physiology' as our starting point, we discuss the science behind the efficacy of some methods as distinct from others (eg. Nembutal over Opiates) and consider how each strategy discussed in the book falls into one of four categories of hypoxia: hypoxic, hypermic, ischemic & histotoxic.

In understanding better how the different methods work on the body, there can be increased confidence in the efficacy of a method to provide a peaceful and reliable Exit at a time of one's choosing.

Exit first met Tom Curran in 2008 when he attended our initial Irish workshop at the Seomra Spraoi anarchist collective in Dublin (because no other booked venue would host the public meeting and workshop): such was the controversy surrounding assisted suicide/ assisted dying in Ireland. Fast forward a decade, and Tom has become the legitimate face of the Irish right to die movement. 

A director of Exit International, Tom's commitment stems from the experience of his late partner, Marie Flemming who died in 2013 after suffering for many years from MS. In recent weeks, the Irish Parliament has voted to progress a Dying with Dignity Bill concerning assisted suicide to the committee stage. Listen to Tom's journey over the past decade and his instrumental role in pushing for a law for people with a 'life-limiting' condition.

The NuTech Conference was held on Saturday 26 September with a 100% online program, drawing speakers from the Netherlands, US, France, Australia, Scotland & more.

NuTech is the only global group to explore the possibilities offered by new technologies in regard to a peaceful and reliable death, instead of doctor-administered voluntary assisted dying.

This year's NuTech conference theme is the 'Dementia Dilemma'. 

Keynote speakers such as Marije de Haas, Bert Keizer and Michael Laufer explored the role of implanted switches as it relates to dementia patients (eg. The Plug). French investigative researcher Guillaume Coudray took on the Nitrite debate while Hugh Wynne will talk 'nitro foam frenzy'. US Medical Aid In Dying (MAID) physician, Lonny Shavelson, explained the science & logic behind the new D-DMA drug mixtures, Philip Nitschke unveiled Sarco X, Ted Ballou & John Todd talked gases and Richard Avocet featured his R2D Debreather. Feminist activist Kinga Jelinska warned how to avoid reinventing the wheel, while Neal Nicol examined new technologies in bio body disposal.

NuTech Website is at Nutech2020.com

The recording is available for purchase

In 2011, Sean Davison pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of his mother (who was dying of cancer). He helped her to die when her hunger strike failed. Sean served 5 months home detention in New Zealand for his compassion.

In 2020, Sean entered a plea bargain of guilty to the murders of three seriously ill/ disabled men in South Africa. He is currently serving 3 years house arrest in Cape Town.

Sean Davison is the Founder of Dignity South Africa and President of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies.

Sean has had an extraordinarily bad run of luck when it comes to the law (and other authorities, eg. NZ Medical Board). 

In December 2020, Sean wrote to the New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to request a pardon on behalf of all New Zealanders who carry a criminal conviction for helping a member of their family, someone they loved very much, to die with dignity.

Sean has requested the pardon in light of the outcome of the 2020 New Zealand referendum on assisted dying which saw overwhelming (65%) support for voluntary assisted dying via the End of Life Act in New Zealand.

Listen to Sean in conversation with Fiona Stewart on this week's Doxit Podcast.

Sarco X is a 3D-printed euthanasia capsule that provides a peaceful and reliable death. 

First exhibited at the Amsterdam Funeral Fair in 2018 and then at Venice Design in 2019 and Cube Design Museum in 2020, the latest iteration of the Sarco - Sarco X - has recently undergone its final lab testing at Haarlem in the Netherlands and is now ready for use. 

The Sarco works by creating a hypoxic (low oxygen) environment. It is 3D-printed in order to ensure it is lawful (you can print your own). The plans will be made available in due course in The Peaceful Pill eHandbook. 

Sarco is fully portable so it can be taken to a location of one's choosing. It is beautiful to look at because dying - like living - can be an occasion for reflection, peace and even celebration.

See more at Sarco.design

In this week's Podcast, we discuss the controversial use of Nembutal in capital punishment executions in the US.

In particular, we examine the argument that prisoners have recently presented to US Courts that death by pentobarbital injection causes flash pulmonary edema. Flash pulmonary edema, they say, constitutes cruel & unusual punishment. And cruel & unusual punishment is prohibited under the 8th Amendment of the US Constitution.

Questions

Does Nembutal cause 'flash pulmonary edema' & is this a problem?

Is Nembutal still the best drug for a peaceful/ reliable death?

The second issue discussed is the global move to re-categorise Nembutal, so Veterinarians are less likely to die from an overdose.

Finally, this week Exit launches our new Stop Scams website at www.nembutalscams.com

This week's Doxit Podcast examines the topic of the medicalisation of death. 

Whereas once a death was the domain of religion, and suicide was considered a sin against God, more recently the public discourse on suicide has medicalised the act, treating it as a mental illness. No rational person could ever wish to end their life, regardless of the reason.

In this week's discussion, Philip Nitschke and Fiona Stewart question the semantics surrounding rational/ irrational suicide/ Voluntary Assisted Dying/ Medical Aid In Dying, drawing in particular on a recent article by Anita Hannig in the journal Cultural Anthropology (Vol. 34, Issue 1, pp. 53–77). 

They explore how a death under a right to die law, is more an instance of the person/ patient gaining State (and medical) authorisation, than the person having any real authority over their life, and death. 

DIY end of life strategies are the only effective means by which one's autonomy and agency can be preserved.

In 2018, Graham Morant was found guilty of inciting (and assisting)his wife Jenny to suicide. This is the first case where a charge of incitement to suicide has led to a conviction. Graham received 6 years for assisting Jenny's suicide and 10 years for inciting. These sentences were to be served concurrently.

but...

At the time of his trial the Court was unaware of a series of emails that Jenny Morant had sent to Exit, pleading for help in her plan to suicide. She described her husband as unhelpful and unwilling to help her; a very different story to how Graham was portrayed in court.  These emails became the basis for Graham's appeal against his convictions and sentence.

In June 2020, however,  the Queensland Court of Appeal concluded that  the email woulds not have altered the decision of the jury. This podcast reviews this bizarre decision and looks at it in the context of this hitherto little known crime of incitement to suicide.

Jenny Morant had undergone unsuccessful spinal surgery (following many years of osteoporosis). The legacy of the surgery left her living in constant pain for which there was no relief. Interestingly, sadly, Jenny would not have qualified for Queensland's anticipated voluntary assisted dying bill which the Queensland Labor Government plans to introduce following their 2020 re-election victory.