Dr Philip Nitschke will demonstrate how to administer a lethal injection by laptop at the session Some church leaders say a workshop on assisted suicide methods being held in Cardiff could be “very dangerous”.
Dr Philip Nitschke will demonstrate how to use a laptop connected to a lethal injection at the Quakers Meeting House on Thursday.
Members of the Catholic church said it could act as an “invitation to commit suicide”.
The euthanasia expert says he is merely providing practical information. The Society of Friends have yet to comment.
Other workshops run by Dr Nitschke in the past week have been cancelled in Belfast and Eastbourne after the venues decided not to go ahead.
A session in Dublin was held last Thursday and Dr Nitschke says he has heard nothing to suggest the Cardiff date will be shelved.
He says the event will be split into two halves with the first being a public meeting where he will demonstrate the laptop device and discuss the importance of having an “end of life plan”.
“Our first concern must be the potential for vulnerable people being influenced”
Canon Peter Collins Cardiff Metropolitan Cathedral of St David
Then there will be a private session for the over-50s where he will discuss the different methods available to those wishing to end their lives voluntarily.
Monsignor Robert Reardon, administrator for the Catholic archdiocese of Cardiff, said the event raised “serious concerns”.
He told BBC Wales: “Assisted suicide is not something we would support and not something we would recognise as a morally valid option.
“I think the whole thing with the laptop is very, very dangerous because it can be seen as an invitation to commit suicide and, depending on the state of minds of vulnerable people, it can then be viewed as a valid option.”
Canon Peter Collins, dean of the Cardiff Metropolitan Cathedral of St David, which is just a few doors away from the Quaker meeting house, shared his view that the seminar was “dangerous”.
He said: “I think the decision by the Quakers to allow this event to take place is disappointing
“Our first concern must be the potential for vulnerable people being influenced.”
“It makes sense for every person to develop for themselves a strategy so they can end their lives peacefully”
Dr Philip Nitschke
Dr Nitschke, who founded euthanasia group Exit International in 1997, said the purpose of the public meeting was to educate people about having a peaceful death.
He said: “It makes sense for every person to develop for themselves a strategy so they can end their lives peacefully if they find themselves in a situation where they have no control.
“I will be explaining why this makes sense within UK law where somebody can be prosecuted for assisting suicide and that’s where my laptop device comes in.
“In the closed session, I will explain how to get hold of the relevant drugs and what gives you a peaceful and reliable death.”
The Australian physician will stage a demonstration of his new “Deliverance” voluntary euthanasia machine.
The device is a laptop computer connected to a syringe that injects a lethal substance if the patient correctly answers a series of questions.
He said he was very disappointed the workshops in Belfast and Eastbourne had not gone ahead.
“Of course there’s opposition but it’s not for people who oppose these views to stifle their message by closing the venues – that is censorship.”
The Safe Exit Workshop will be held at the Cardiff Quakers Meeting House on Charles Street on Thursday.
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