On Saturday morning, a Sydney woman died in circumstances which NSW police are now investigating. Attending her long, drawn-out death was NT physician Dr Philip Nitschke. Dr Nitschke has been at the centre of the euthanasia debate in Australia in recent years, developing a so-called 'death machine' to assist terminally ill people who wanted to end their lives.
Suicide is no longer a crime in Australia but assisting a suicide is.
In fact, a Western Australian doctor is currently facing charges of murder and assisted suicide after allegedly administering a fatal dose of pain-killing drugs. Reporter Murray McLaughlin spent time with Dr Nitschke and his patient over several harrowing days. But before bringing you this exclusive report, we should warn parents that some children might find the subject matter disturbing. Dr Philip Nitschke helped four people to die during the 11 months when euthanasia was legal in the Northern Territory in the mid 1990s. Obviously a person can stop eating and drinking.