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When the vote was finally taken, it was 3:45 in the morning. After six months of arguing and a final 16 hours of hot parliamentary debates, Australia''s Northern Territory became the first legal authority in the world to allow doctors to take the fives of incurably ill patients who wish to die. The measure was passed by the convincing vote of 15 to 10.Almost at the same time word flashed on the Internet and was picked up, half a world away, by John Hofsess, executive director of the Right to Die Society of Canada. He sent it on through the group''s on-line service, Death NET. Says Hofsess: "We posted bulletins all day long, because of course this isn''t just something that happened in Australia. It''s world history."
The full import may take a while to sink in. The NT Rights of the Terminally Ill law has left physicians and citizens alike trying to deal with its moral and practical implications. Some have breathed sighs of relief; others ,including churches, right-to-life groups and the Australian Medical Association, bitterly attacked the bill and the haste of its passage. But the tide is unlikely to turn back. In Australia ― where an aging population, life-extending technology and changing community attitudes have all played their part ― other states are going to consider making a similar law to deal with euthanasia. In the America and Canada, where the right-to-die movement is gathering strength, observers are waiting for the dominoes to start falling.
Under the new Northern Territory law, an adult patient can request death ― probably by a deadly injection or pill ― to put an end to suffering. The patient must be diagnosed as terminally ill by two doctors. After a "cooling off" period of seven days, the patient can sign a certificate of request. 48 hours later, the wish for death can be met. For Lloyd Nickson, a 54-year-old Darwin resident suffering from lung cancer, the NT Rights of Terminally Ill law means he can get on with living without the haunting fear of his suffering: a terrifying death from his breathing condition. "I''m not afraid of dying from a spiritual point of view, but what I was afraid of was how I''d go, because I''ve watched people die in the hospital fighting for oxygen and clawing at their masks." he says.