 |
|
Nigot took a fatal drugs overdose at her home in Perth
|
SYDNEY,
November 26 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The suicide of a healthy
79-year-old woman who said she had been inspired by a euthanasia
campaigner known as "Australia's
doctor death" has revived debate over legalized mercy killing.
French-born
retired academic Lisette Nigot took a fatal drugs overdose at her home
in Perth, Western Australia,
last week despite being in good health and apparently sound mind, it was
revealed Tuesday, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
She
would have turned 80 December 15, but wrote in a suicide note she left
pinned to her bed: "After 80 years of a good life, I have [had]
enough of it. I want to stop it before it gets bad."
"I
am terminating my life now because I want to have control over my
death," she said.
She
had attended a number of "exit workshops" run by suicide
campaigner, Doctor Philip Nitschke, and before her death wrote to him
thanking him for his support, describing him as "an inspiration and
a crusader."
As
a general practitioner in Darwin, Nitshke helped four cancer patients
end their lives in 1996 after the Northern Territory became the first
state in the world to legalize voluntary euthanasia.
Nigot's
death followed that of a Queensland couple, Syd and Marjorie Croft, who
had also attended Nitshke's exit workshops and before their deaths wrote
a letter saying neither of them wanted to outlive the other.
Right
to Life campaigner Margaret Tighe warned that the deaths demonstrated
the dangers of providing suicide information.
"If
euthanasia was legalized, people would be able to end their lives simply
because they feel life is no longer worthy to be lived," she told
ABC radio.
"The
way euthanasia laws are written really does make it quite easy for
people in this situation to do this."
Nitschke,
who on Monday released Nigot's suicide note for publication, said he had
tried to talk her out of killing herself.
He
said he had spoken to Nigot on a number of occasions over the past two
years, most recently three weeks ago in Perth, discussing her situation
as a person not seriously ill but who was considering ending her life.
Nitschke
claimed there was such a thing as rational suicide and Nigot had decided
as a clear-minded adult that this was the time to go.
"One
spends time trying to talk her out of this decision but, at some point,
you have to stop trying to redirect people," he said.
"She
made it very clear she was getting very sick of people who kept trying
to push her into courses of action which really were to satisfy them,
not her."
Nitschke
said he sought to understand why healthy people considered suicide and
to determine if they were depressed or if there was any underlying
psychiatric illness.
The
Northern Territory laws were overridden by John Howard's federal
government in 1997 and assisting a suicide is a crime carrying a maximum
penalty of life imprisonment.
The
Netherlands became the first country in the world to legalize euthanasia
in April, followed by Belgium in May, but Nitschke has campaigned for
years to persuade Australian legislators to review the laws.
Muzammil
Siddiqi, the president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)
said that in Islam, euthanasia is not allowed.
In
a fatwa published on IslamOnline, Siddiqi said: "Islam considers
human life sacred. Life is to be protected and promoted as much as
possible. It is neither permissible in Islam to kill another human
being, nor even to kill one's own self [suicide]. Killing is allowed
only in a declared just war situation when the enemy comes to attack,
then killing of the enemy is allowed for self-defense.
"The
court of law may pass a death sentence against a person as a punishment
for some crimes such as premeditated murder or other serious crimes.
However, there is no provision in Islam for killing a person to reduce
his pain or suffering from sickness.
"It
is the duty of the doctors, patient's relatives and the state to take
care of the sick and to do their best to reduce the pain and suffering
of the sick, but they are not allowed under any circumstances to kill
the sick person. The sick person also should patiently endure the pain
and should pray to Allah.
"If
he/she is patient, there will be a great reward and blessing for him/her
in the eternal life. If, however, a number of medical experts determine
that a patient is in a terminal condition and there is no hope for
his/her recovery, then it could be permissible for them to stop the
medication.
"If
the patient is on life support, it may be permissible, with due
consultation and care, to decide to switch off the life support machine
and let nature take its own time. Under no condition is it permissible
to induce death to a patient."
Prominent
Muslim scholar Sheikh Youssef Al-Qaradawi’s view is that euthanasia is
forbidden in Islam, for it encompasses a positive role on the
physician’s part to end the life of the patient and hasten his death
via lethal injection, electric shock, a sharp weapon or any other way.
This is an act of killing, and, killing is a major sin and thus
forbidden in Islam, the religion of pure mercy.
|
|
Iraq:
- Tanks Fitted Out For Iraq War:
Hoon
- Inspectors Arrive for First Test
in Iraq, U.S. Plans Post-War Government
- Inspections will Be Substitute,
Not Prelude, For War: IAEA Chief
- War on Iraq Has Already Begun: The
Independent
Palestine:
-
UNWRA Slams Israeli Army For
"Humiliating" Employee
-
Israel to Receive New Patriot Missiles, Asks U.S. for $10 Billion
-
Israel Kills Child, Abducts 9 Palestinians, Raids Central Gaza
-
Syrian FM Rejects U.S. Pressure
to Close Palestinian Jihad Office
Ramadan
-
Ramadan in Mexico
-
Muslims in Kosovo Perform Taraweeh in the Open
-
New Muslims Enjoy Peace, Serenity
of Ramadan Fast
-
Anti-Islamic
Crimes Surge in United States: FBI Report
-
U.S.
Televangelist Steps Up Anti-Islam Rhetoric
-
Danish Court
Orders Continued Detention of Chechen Envoy
-
Three
Turkish Sisters Jailed Over Hijab Demonstration
-
Malaysians,
Singaporeans Gearing for Eid Celebrations
-
Britain Withdraws Advice on Getting Students Interested in Bombs
-
U.S. Secretly Stockpiling Oil, Dependent on Saudi Arabia
-
Nigeria's Obasanjo Defends Shari’a, Blames Press for Miss World Riots
-
Terror-Funding Claims "Outrageous, Irresponsible": Saudi Ambassador’s Wife
-
Aussie Woman Kills Herself, Inspired by "Crusader" Dr Death
-
South Korean Students Break into U.S. Army Headquarters
-
Indonesia Bracing for 20 Million Exodus During Eid
-
Chechen
War Reaches Moscow
-
World
Wide War
-
Invasion
into Gaza
-
Arafat
HQ Destroyed… In Pictures
-
Homeless in Minutes
-
War on Iraq.. World Reaction
|
|
|
|
|
|
