Australian woman donates organs after self-administering deadly suicide drugs

A 55-year-old woman with a motor neuron disease had her organs harvested after self-administering assisted suicide drugs.

Key Takeaways:

• Karen Duncan was diagnosed with a motor neuron disease (MND) in 2024. She chose to undergo assisted suicide and wanted to have her organs donated afterward.

• Duncan is believed to be the first person in Australia to have her organs harvested and donated after self-administering oral drugs for assisted suicide.

• A similar case occurred in 2023, but doctors administered euthanasia drugs to that patient.

The Details:

According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Duncan was struggling to walk within months of receiving her diagnosis, and quickly decided to undergo voluntary assisted dying (VAD), the euphemistic term used in Australia to refer to assisted suicide and euthanasia. "I would like to take my leave before I get worse than what I am … [this is] not really what I call living," she said.

Once she had decided to die, she also decided to donate her organs. "She was really adamant on donating. It was really one of the most important things," her daughter Brieanna Cox said.

As a resident of Victoria, however, it was more complicated for Duncan; the easiest way to arrange such a thing is through euthanasia, when a doctor administers the drugs to kill the patient. But Victoria instead allows assisted suicide, where the patient takes the fatal drugs on their own. Only if "self-administration" is not possible can a patient be euthanized.

But Rohit D'Costa, the state medical director of DonateLife Victoria, said they would find a way to work around it. "Karen is, as far as we know, the first person to have donated organs and tissues after self-administration of a VAD substance," D'Costa said. "She took the substance herself and died soon afterwards and was able to help others through organ and tissue donation. [Karen] showed that is possible … that fills me with the greatest hope in the power of humanity and community."

Duncan took a limousine to the hospital and died 39 minutes after taking the fatal drugs. She was immediately taken to the operating room, where her lungs, kidneys, heart valve, and eye tissue were harvested.

Previously, a nurse donated her organs after being euthanized by doctors; she was the first known to have done so in Australia.

Why It Matters:

There are known abuses in organ procurement, including no longer requiring brain death before harvesting organs. However, linking assisted suicide and organ donation is even more disturbing, cementing the idea that a suicidal person's life is not only not worth living, but that he or she is better off dead, and more valuable dead than alive. And yet, it is becoming increasingly common.

A review of the assisted suicide program in Australia found that this makes coercion associated with assisted suicide even worse:

Some experts added that no information should be given on organ allocation, due to the risk that knowing how many people their organs could help will prevent the MAiD patient from feeling absolute freedom to change their mind right up until the last time they are asked whether they wish to proceed, just before sub-stance administration.

In Canada, partnering organ donation with euthanasia and assisted suicide (MAiD) is particularly troubling, as the country's program one of the most extreme in the world. MAiD has been promoted as a way to save money, with doctors pressuring patients to choose it instead of treatment because it is cheaper. There have also been reports of MAiD due to poverty, lack of adequate housing, a lack of disability-friendly housing, and more. 

The Bottom Line:

People with disabilities or illnesses, even terminal illnesses, have lives that are worth living. Encouraging them to pursue their suicidal ideations solely so their organs can be harvested to improve the lives of others is disturbing, at best.