Helga Kuhse

Helga Kuhse (26 March 1940—) is an Australian bioethicist and philosopher.

Born in Hamburg, Germany, Kuhse emigrated to Australia in 1962, and married the same year; she and her husband Jim Kuhse had one daughter, Martina. Kuhse studied at Melbourne's Monash University. She was awarded a Bachelor with honors in 1978 and a Doctorate of Philosophy in 1983 ("Helga Kuhse", n.d.).

Along with Peter Singer, Kuhse co-founded the Centre for Human Bioethics at Monash University in 1980; she served as Director until 1999. She has published widely, including titles such as The Sanctity-of-Life Doctrine in Medicine: a critique (OUP, 1987); Should the Baby Live - The Problem of Handicapped Infants (OUP, 1985); and Willing to Listen - Wanting to Die (Penguin, 1994). 

Kuhse is a prominent advocate for the legalisation of voluntary assisted euthanasia, and was President of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies from 1992-1994 ("Helga Kuhse", n.d.). Marshall Perron credited reading a paper by Kuhse as his inspiration for the Rights of the Terminally Ill Bill; Kuhse served as an expert witness to his government, and to the Australian Senate’s inquiry into the Euthanasia Laws Bill (Docker, 1998). She is now semi-retired and enjoys skiing, gardening and reading ("Helga Kuhse", n.d.). 

Docker, C. (1998). Making ideas reality: an exclusive interview with philosopher Helga Kuhse. Voluntary Euthanasia Society of Scotland Newsletter (January).  http://www.euthanasia.cc/kuhse98.html

Helga Kuhse. [n.d.]. World Biographical Encyclopedia. https://prabook.com/web/helga.kuhse/144462