Australia's 'Dr. Death' plans workshop

AUCKLAND, New Zealand, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- New Zealand officials say there's nothing stopping an Australian "Dr. Death" from teaching people to build a home lethal carbon monoxide machine.

Police and Immigration Services said there is no reason to stop Dr. Philip Nitschke from holding his proposed workshop in March on how to build a machine that emits lethal carbon monoxide.

The death-machine workshop will coincide with a visit to support Lesley Martin, who faces a trial in March for attempting to murder her terminally ill mother, the Wellington Dominion Post reported Tuesday.

The workshop would entail sending people out to buy the components needed to build the machine and then having participants help each other build the machine and then take the machine home.

"We suggest they obtain a meter beforehand to make sure they are producing" the lethal gas, Nitschke said.

The workshop would also focus on other techniques that could be used by euthanasia advocates, such as the exit bag -- a plastic bag with a drawstring that fits over the head, the Post said.