Sydney Bishop Anthony Fisher has denounced euthanasia saying suicidal people need support not "lethal injections".
The Catholic Weekly reports Bishop Fisher - who is the Episcopal Vicar for Life and Health - says those with suicidal tendencies need to reach out for medical, psychological and human help.
"The euthanasia doctors have been shown in the past to be poor diagnosticians of depression and even worse at treating it," Bishop Fisher said.
"Already far too many people, including many young people who have their whole lives ahead of them, take their lives in Australia.
"It is a national tragedy. The last thing we need in this situation are suicide zealots parading as doctors," he said.
Bishop Fisher's comments come in light of euthanasia campaigner Dr Philip Nitschke who recently said he believed healthy people of sound mind who were mature enough should have the right to take their own lives if that's what they wanted to.
Dr Nitschke made the comments after saying he doubts he will be charged over the death of a healthy woman who took her life in New Zealand.
"It is noteworthy that Dr Nitschke has finally come clean that his long-running campaign is not really about mercy killing for the terminally ill - as he has badged it in the past - but about a much more generalised support for suicide and assisted suicide," Bishop Fisher said.
"Perhaps this reflects an inevitable slide in the ‘logic' of euthanasia campaigners."
SOURCE
Suicidal people ‘need support , not lethal aid' (Catholic Weely 21/02/08)