Techniques to pass on: technology and euthanasia

Authors

Brian Martin, University of WollongongFollow

RIS ID

30508

Publication Details

Martin, B. 2010, 'Techniques to pass on: technology and euthanasia', Bulletin of Science Technology & Society, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 54-59.

Abstract

Proponents and opponents of euthanasia have argued passionately about whether it should be legalised. In Australia in the mid 1990s, following the world's first legal euthanasia deaths, doctor Philip Nitschke initiated a different approach: a search for do-it-yourself technological means of dying with dignity. The Australian government has opposed this effort, especially through heavy censorship. The citizen efforts led by Nitschke have the potential to move the euthanasia issue from a debate about legalisation to a struggle over technology.