Max Bell

Maxwell Bell (died 2 August 1996, aged 65) was an Australian man. He is best remembered for driving from his home in Broken Hill to Darwin in an unsuccessful attempt to use the Northern Territory's Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995.

A taxi driver suffering from terminal stomach cancer, Bell had been left with constant nausea and vomiting after surgery. He decided to drive his taxi the 3,000 kilometres from New South Wales to Darwin and end his suffering using the ROTI. The journey took six days and left him very weak; immediately admitted to hospital, he waited three weeks for three doctors to sign the necessary paperwork ("Australia: dying for euthanasia", 04:40). However, Philip Nitschke - who was supporting Bell - was unable to secure the signatures required for the voluntary euthanasia to proceed (Nitschke, n.d.). Bell returned south in disgust, and died in hospital a few weeks later. He is buried with his mother and sister at Broken Hill Cemetery, New South Wales ("Grave of Max Bell", n.d.).

A fictionalised account of Bell's journey was made into a 2003 play, Last Cab to Darwin, written by Reg Cribb; a film of the same name followed in 2015, but was further removed from real events (Kroenert, 2015).

Australia: Dying for Euthanasia [short film]. (1996) Journeyman Pictures/ABC. https://www.journeyman.tv/film/244

Grave of Max Bell. [n.d.]. BillionGraves. https://billiongraves.com/grave/Max-Bell/28574390

Kroenert, T. (2015, August 6). A euthanasia parable in the outback. Eureka Street. https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article/a-euthanasia-parable-in-the-outback

Nitschke, P. [n.d.]. Max Bell. Exit International. https://www.exitinternational.net/story/max-bell/