Andrew Denton diagnosed with advanced heart disease: Star requires bypass surgery

ANDREW Denton has been forced to pull out of a campaign to legalise euthanasia after being diagnosed with advanced heart disease.

The news is a huge blow for the 57-year-old, who must now undergo multiple bypass surgery.

Denton’s diagnosis comes as Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is set to introduce a bill for assisted suicide in parliament.

The TV personality’s absence from the campaign has been described as a disaster by advocates, Fairfax reported.

Denton has been a vocal advocate of voluntary euthanasia in recent years and told the National Press Club last year how the will was there for Australians to support assisted dying laws.

He accused prominent Liberal Kevin Andrews and Labor figure Tony Burke of being part of a “subterranean Catholic force” behind an ongoing campaign to prevent assisted dying laws from being reintroduced in the country.

The broadcaster said the forces behind the repeal of NT-assisted death laws by the John Howard government in 1996 — and the subsequent removal of the right of territories to create such laws — “were still in play”.

Source: Andrew Denton heart disease diagnosis: Star requires bypass surgery