Assisted suicide ad banned from Canadian TV

An Australian physician had planned to air the commercial ahead of his visit to Canada.

Dr. Philip Nitschke successfully campaigned for an assisted suicide law to be passed in Australia, and helped four people kill themselves in 2002 before the law was quickly repealed. Next month he is planning to hold several “Safe Exit” workshops in Canadian cities, and in advance of his tour he attempted to air an ad promoting assisted suicide on Canadian TV. The Television Bureau of Canada banned the ad on Friday, saying that the commercial, coupled with Dr. Nitschke’s instructional workshops on how to commit suicide, might be against Canadian law. Dr. Nitschke said he plans to erect billboard ads instead. Assisted suicide has been in the public eye recently, with Quebec holding public forums to discuss the practice.