The Australian activist Philip Nitschke does not fight for climate, communism or children’s rights – but for death. His goal: suicide as a fundamental right.
Philip Nitschke has a nickname that is usually only given to doctors who murder in series: “Dr. Death”. Although he also once worked as a doctor, Nitschke has never murdered anyone. Nevertheless, he wishes people death – the Australian activist wants to enforce a fundamental right to suicide.
Most recently, the suicide of a 64-year-old American woman, which he assisted, attracted worldwide attention. She had traveled to Switzerland to take her own life with the suicide capsule “Sarco” developed by Nitschke. The suicide machine was intended to give her a gentle death at the push of a button and was used for the first time.
Nitschke was not personally present. He followed the woman’s last minutes via a live stream that showed what was happening inside the “Sarco”.
Who is the man who has this very unique view of death?
Euthanasia as “salvation”
It begins in 1996: The world’s first euthanasia law came into force in Australia, the “Rights of the Terminally Ill Act” (Roti Act). When Bob Dent Nitschke, who is suffering from prostate cancer, asks for euthanasia, he is prepared. The “Deliverance Machine” he developed is used – an early forerunner of the “Sarco” suicide capsule now used in Switzerland.

The “Deliverance Machine” developed by Philip Nitschke is now on display in the London Science Museum
© Wikimedia Commons
The device consists of a laptop running the eponymous computer program “Deliverance,” which means salvation in German. The machine is also connected to the patient’s bloodstream through an intravenous injection. The program asks a series of questions to confirm the person’s intention to die this way.
In 15 seconds you will receive a lethal injection…press ‘Yes’ to continue.
If all questions are answered with “yes,” “Deliverance” triggers the lethal injection. The method works and Nitschke becomes the first doctor to provide legally regulated euthanasia. A total of four people use the “Deliverance Machine”. In 1997 the Australian state repealed the Roti Act.
About the “right to die”
Although Nitschke is no longer allowed to assist in suicides, passing on his knowledge on this topic is not a punishable offense. He begins by educating others on how to end their lives. In the same year that euthanasia became illegal again in Australia, he founded the Voluntary Euthanasia Research Foundation (Verf), an organization that provides information about euthanasia and tries to make it more accessible. In 2001 it was renamed Exit International.
Exit’s website includes a quote from Nitschke that summarizes the organization’s principles: “At Exit, we believe that it is the fundamental human right of every mentally healthy adult to plan for the end of their life in a reliable and peaceful manner and at a time of their choosing to be able to.”
Nitschke’s organization advocates assisted suicide, active euthanasia and so-called rational suicide, which occurs without help but is “well considered.” A serious physical illness does not have to be present in any of these ways of dying. Basically the only requirements: You should be an adult and of “clear mind”.
Death ship cruise
The contradiction between reality and Philip Nitschke’s goals is extreme. Active euthanasia is legally permitted in only ten countries worldwide (as of September 2024): Australia, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Netherlands, Peru, Portugal, Spain.
In order to advocate for his goals, Nitschke sometimes resorts to provocative methods. He made headlines in 2000 when he attempted to charter a “death ship.” He wanted to use it on a kind of cruise to collect people from all over the world in order to provide them with euthanasia in international waters.
He could have circumvented strict local laws in this way. The plan even angered some euthanasia advocates and was ultimately not implemented.
The manual for eternal sleep
In 2006, Nitschke published a book that attracted worldwide attention. In “The Peaceful Pill Handbook,” more than a dozen suicide methods are detailed and rated using scales of reliability and peacefulness.
To order the manual or read it online, there was an age limit of 50 years. Back in 2014, it was probably enough to click a simple checkbox. This is how 25-year-old Joe Waterman also gained access to the content. In January 2014, the Australian, who suffered from depression, took his own life using one of the methods described in the book.
In 2016, Nitschke said in an interview with the medium “Vice”: “Many depressed people still have the mental capacity to be aware that death is forever.” Depression was not an exclusion criterion when it came to the provision of the “Sarco” suicide capsule, which was still in development at the time. Their first deployment took place in Switzerland.
The 64-year-old American did not suffer from depression, but from a “very serious illness that caused severe physical pain,” as the Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant quoted from an audio recording of the woman. In it she also says that she had wanted to die for “at least two years.”
Nitschke, who followed her last minutes on camera, told de Volkskrant: “When she entered the Sarco, she pressed the button almost immediately. She didn’t say a word. She really wanted to die.” The dying process went well. It looked exactly as expected.