Former university professor David Goodall who has travelled to Switzerland to voluntarily end his life. PHOTO | COURTESY
BASEL
A
104-year-old Australian scientist, resentful that he was forced
overseas to die, is set to address the media in Switzerland on
Wednesday, a day before he is due to end his life.
David Goodall does not have a terminal illness but says his quality of life has deteriorated and that he wants to die.
He was barred from seeking help to end his life in Australia, so he was forced to travel to Switzerland.
"I don't want to go to Switzerland," Goodall told broadcaster ABC
before he set off on his final voyage a week ago, adding that he had to
"get the opportunity of suicide which the Australian system does not
permit".
"I feel very resentful,"
said the honorary research associate at Perth's Edith Cowan University,
who arrived in Switzerland on Monday.
He will speak to the media in the northern
Swiss city of Basel later Wednesday alongside the head of Exit
International, the Australian right-to-die group that helped Goodall
make the trip.
"This
conference will be Professor Goodall's first and last conference before
his final Exit appointment" on Thursday, the organisation said in a
statement.
Goodall, who according to
Exit International attempted but failed to commit suicide on his own
earlier this year, secured a fast-track appointment with assisted dying
foundation Eternal Spirit in Basel.
Assisted
suicide is illegal in most countries and was banned in Australia until
the state of Victoria became the first to legalise the practice last
year.
But that legislation, which
takes effect in June 2019, only applies to terminally ill patients of
sound mind and a life expectancy of less than six months.
According
to Swiss law meanwhile, anyone who is of sound mind and who has over a
period of time voiced a consistent wish to end their life can request
so-called assisted voluntary death, or AVD.
Eternal
Spirit, one of several foundations in Switzerland that assist people
who want to end their lives, said Wednesday that Goodall had undergone
two medical visits by different doctors since arriving in the city.
"Tonight
the board of the foundation will study the documents and also judge the
wish to die of David Goodall," Eternal Spirit head Erika Preisig said
in an email.
"So his wish to die is
checked by two doctors and three people of the foundation's board. If
all five persons give their ok, Goodall will be able to open the
infusion tomorrow."
"That all five
will accept his wish to die is quite likely, as David Goodall is in a
very advanced age, suffering from several degenerative illnesses and
most important of all, he is of sound mind," she added.
In assisted dying, the person must be physically capable of carrying out the final deed on their own.
Most
Swiss foundations ask patients to drink sodium pentobarbital, an
effective sedative that in strong enough doses causes the heart muscle
to stop beating.
Since the substance is alkaline and burns a bit when swallowed, Eternal Spirit has instead opted for intravenous infusions.
A
professional prepares the needle, but it is up to the patient to open
the valve that allows the short-acting barbiturate to mix with a saline
solution and begin flowing into their vein.
Eternal
Spirit is advocating for all countries to introduce systems like the
Swiss one, allowing people to choose to die "in dignity".
"I
do hope the law in all countries will change, so the fights of very
brave people like David Goodall... will be successful and no-one will
have to travel to Switzerland any more for a peaceful self-determined
death," Preisig said.
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