A pro-euthanasia campaigner nicknamed ‘Dr Death’ is selling suicide kits disguised as home brewing equipment, it has been revealed.
Australian Dr Philip Nitschke sells the kit for around £250 on his website.
While the equipment can also be used for brewing beer, Nitschke has provided specific instructions on how a person can use it to commit suicide.
‘Deplorable’
Campaign group Care Not Killing have described the sale of the kits as “utterly deplorable”, and called on the police to investigate Nitschke.
Spokesman Alistair Thompson said: “It’s deeply worrying because one suspects there will be no formal controls over who this kit is being sold to apart from the limit of needing a credit card to purchase it online.
“So this could be going to very vulnerable adults, some of them still teenagers, who are depressed for whatever reason and see this as a way of ending their lives.”
‘Vulnerable’
Michael Nazir-Ali, former Bishop of Rochester, also criticised Nitschke’s actions.
He said: “Any do-it-yourself kit for assisting in a suicide would be a violation of the law and, therefore, liable to prosecution.”
Assisting a suicide is a criminal offence in the UK and carries a maximum jail sentence of 14 years.
UK visit
However, it is reported that Nitschke has been supplying the kits to the UK for three years.
He plans to visit the UK next month to give a seminar on assisted suicide.
In the past he has said he would help anyone to end their life, “including the depressed, the elderly bereaved,” and even “the troubled teen”.
In 2015, the UK Parliament voted against legalising assisted suicide by 330 votes to 118.