A euthanasia advocate has spoken out following the death of Lily Thai, a young woman who used South Australia's voluntary assisted dying program after living in excruciating pain.
The 23-year-old was terminally ill after having been diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS) and then an autoimmune disease.
She "passed away peacefully" last week, according to a funeral notice published in The Advertiser.
Thai was able to end her life after voluntary assisted dying laws were legalised in South Australia in January.
Dr Philip Nitschke, a euthanasia advocate who was previously based in Adelaide, told The Advertiser he hoped Thai's case would "strengthen support for the law".
"The SA laws, they are functioning, as evidenced by Lily and I think most people will be pleased such legislation was in place so she could be helped," he said.
"I note that of the 12 or so who have used the legislation, they had terminal cancer or degenerative neurological diseases, and in all these cases it's hard to find anyone who would not approve of the SA law."
Nitschke added that since the new law had been introduced, many older people still believed that they should be able to decide whether to end their lives, and that the decision should "not be controlled by restrictive legislative process".
"We know this from the numbers of elderly that attended our Adelaide workshop when I was there a few months back," he said.
"And many elderly will continue to seek and occasionally use their own lethal drugs, or plan a final trip to Switzerland, the one place in the world where receiving any assistance is not controlled by the medical profession."
Thai was diagnosed at age 17 with EDS, a genetic condition where the sufferer's joints become very loose and their skin fragile. As a result the condition constantly puts patients at risk of severe injury.
A year later, she lost her ability to walk, use her bowels, eat and drink without becoming sick.
She found out she also had an autoimmune disease known as Autoimmune autonomic ganglionopathy, and that her organs were failing.
"It's gotten to the place that I've lost control of everything else in my life, and I've been reliant on my dad as a caregiver to do everything for me, even the most intimate things," she previously told The Advertiser.
"It's now my time to choose what is right for me. I've been given a choice, and that is to die peacefully.
Before her death, Thai had been spending her final days at Flinders Medical Centre's Laurel Hospice.
Medical practitioners administered a fast-acting IV medication on Wednesday afternoon.
A funeral for Thai will be held at Centennial Park Cemetery on Thursday morning.
7NEWS
it's fucked
