Philip Nitschke

An Australian by birth, Dr Philip Nitschke lives in Amsterdam where he is the Founder and Director of the non-profit organisation, Exit International. Through his work at Exit International, Nitschke has designed several end-of-life machines including GoGen, Destiny and the Sarco pod with the help of Dutch industrial designer Alexander Bannink.

Nitschke was the first doctor to legally administer a lethal injection under the short-lived Rights of the Terminally Ill Act of the Northern Territory in 1996, which was overturned by the Howard government five months after it came into force. He invented the Deliverance Machine – a laptop linked to a syringe – which delivered a fatal injection after the terminally ill had worked through a series of screens asking questions about whether they wanted to die. The Deliverance Machine is on display at the British Science Museum in London.

Nitschke is the author of the books, Going to Switzerland: How to Plan Your Final Exit, Peaceful Pill Handbook, Killing Me Softly: Voluntary Euthanasia and his autobiography Damned If I Do.

Nitschke holds a PhD in applied physics from Flinders University in Adelaide and is a graduate of Sydney Medical School. Nitschke is the recipient of many awards for his humanitarian work and is an eight-time nominee for Australian of the Year.