Philip Nitschke argues suspension appeal should be heard in Darwin

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Euthanasia campaigner makes rare bid to have medical registration suspension appeal shifted from South Australia

Philip Nitschke
Philip Nitschke is appealing the suspension of his medical registration. Photograph: Julian Smith/AAP Image

Euthanasia campaigner Philip Nitschke, who has had his medical registration suspended by the South Australian branch of the Medical Board of Australia, has appeared at a medical tribunal in the Northern Territory to argue his appeal against his suspension should be heard there.

Legal arguments in medical tribunal hearings about which state or territory a case should be heard in are extremely uncommon.

Nitschke, who is the director of the pro-euthanasia group Exit International, had his medical registration suspended on 24 July after the SA board ruled he posed a serious risk to the health and safety of the public and took immediate action to suspend him while investigations into his conduct took place.

As the hearing takes place over the next few weeks, the tribunal will decide whether to recommend Nitschke be formally stripped of his medical registration. The exact timetable for the hearing was being determined by the tribunal Wednesday afternoon.

Nitschke, who is registered in the Northern Territory, was last Friday questioned by police in South Australia after a terminally ill man, Max Bromson, took his own life.

Bromson, a Senate candidate for the state’s Voluntary Euthanasia party, used an imported drug to take his life and had it tested at an Exit International clinic in Adelaide.

Bromson died in a Glenelg hotel room after ingesting the drug himself, surrounded by his friends and family members. South Australian police have since seized phones and computers from Nitschke’s Adelaide offices.

Nitschke was also being investigated by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, which provides support to the Medical Board of Australia, after it was alleged in an ABC television story he had counselled an apparently depressed but otherwise healthy Perth man, Nigel Brayley, to take his own life.

Under legislation changes in 2010, one medical board can investigate a doctor on behalf of several jurisdictions to avoid a situation where multiple investigations are being carried out at once.

Brayley, 45, died in May after taking a euthanasia drug he illegally imported from China. He had made contact with Nitschke in the lead up to his death.

A discussion began on Wednesday afternoon in front of the medical tribunal in Darwin about whether Nitschke’s case should be heard in the state where he is alleged to have been involved in unethical behaviour, or in the state where he is registered to practice.

Nitschke said his lawyers would be arguing for the latter. “We want this hearing to happen in Darwin in front of the medical tribunal here,” Nitshke said.

“There aren’t many hearings here, and this is a chance for them to play out where quite a few of our [Exit International’s] members are, some of whom will be turning up today.”

“I’m a Darwin person, I’m registered here, I’ve spent my whole life here, and for those reasons alone I don’t think the idea of dragging this case elsewhere just because it suits the medical board is ideal.”

Nitschke said he believed he and his lawyers had an “extremely good case” for having his suspension overturned.

A decision about where the case should be heard is yet to be reached and is expected to come in the next week.