'Right-To-Die' Woman Had No Cancer At Time Of Death
By Patrick Goodenough
CNSNews.com Pacific Rim Bureau Chief
May 28, 2002

Pacific Rim Bureau (CNSNews.com) - Euthanasia advocates in Australia are under fire after a post mortem conducted on an assisted-suicide advocate showed no traces of the bowel cancer that supposedly caused her so much suffering.

Not only did Nancy Crick's body show no signs of cancer at the time of her death, but Australia's leading euthanasia campaigner, Philip Nitschke, displayed no apparent surprise at learning about it.

Politicians and pro-lifers have attacked the campaigners, and police have impounded Crick's medical records as part of an ongoing investigation into what they are treating as a suspicious death.

Crick, 69, killed herself on May 22 with a powerful barbiturate, surrounded by 21 friends and supporters, after recording on an Internet website her last months and her intention to kill herself at an undisclosed time.

Their attendance at her bedside was intended to challenge laws which make anyone present at a suicide liable for prosecution for assisting, on the grounds that being there provides the person with psychological support.

Exit Australia, Nitschke's euthanasia lobby group overseeing the "Nancy Crick project," said in statements over recent months that Crick was "terminally ill" or was suffering from "terminal bowel cancer."

On her website, Crick wrote about the effects of the cancer -- terrible pain, nausea, diarrhea -- and said her weight had plummeted from 65 kilograms to 27.

But now it emerges that despite the symptoms, the bowel cancer she had been diagnosed as having earlier may not have returned at all after she underwent surgery to remove it.

Citing sources at the coroner's office, a newspaper in Crick's Queensland state reported at the weekend that she had no trace of bowel cancer at the time of her death.

The Queensland police said in a statement later that the post mortem results had been "inconclusive."

"Police will await the results of toxicology tests [on organs removed from the body] before determining the course of the investigation," it said, adding that the results could take up to six weeks.

The police have refused any further comment on Crick's condition, but confirmed their investigation will now focus on interviews with the 21 witnesses.

One matter likely to be probed is the 11-hour delay between the time of death and the time police were notified.

'Academic'

Nitschke, a doctor at the forefront of efforts to legalize euthanasia in Australia, was a key figure in Crick's suicide plans, and spent considerable time with her. He was intentionally not present when she died.

But when asked about her condition, he said the point wasn't whether Crick's cancer had returned after several rounds of previous surgery, but what quality of life she was experiencing.

Despite having given palliative care a chance, he said, Crick had still chosen to take her own life because of the degree of suffering.

Exit spokesman John Edge said Tuesday Crick had never led him to believe she didn't have cancer.

Nonetheless, he said, he did not think disclosure of that fact would harm the euthanasia cause.

The point was "an academic one," because the euthanasia campaigners wanted euthanasia to be legalized for the "hopelessly ill, not terminally ill."

Edge, the only one of the 21 witnesses to Crick's suicide whose identity is public knowledge, said he was under legal instructions not to comment further.

He said he has had a "conversation" with police since the death.

According to legal advice taken by Exit, prosecution for those present is a possibility. "Assisting" a suicide can carry a life sentence in Queensland state.

In a bid to challenge the law and muddy the waters of any investigation, Exit earlier said it was important that many people were with Crick when she died, as this would make chances of prosecution less likely.

In a video-recorded message, Crick made an appeal for those who attended her death not to be punished.

"The thing that most upsets me is that the law says I can kill myself anytime I want to, but no one can be with me because they might have helped me. Well that's just rubbish, and I don't see why I should die alone. I don't want to die alone."

She stressed no-one had applied any pressure or offered any incentive for her to kill herself

"I am not depressed or unstable or mad. I've simply reached a point where my life is done and now I want to die peacefully."

'Masquerading'

Right-to-Life Australia has called for a full inquiry into the Crick affair, saying it highlighted the dangers of euthanasia.

Queensland premier, Peter Beattie, said the pro-euthanasia lobby's credibility had been called into question, and accused Nitschke of "masquerading" about Crick's true condition.

Beattie said Nitschke appeared to be more interested in promoting his cause that the woman's welfare.

Also questioning Nitschke was Brian Harradine, a pro-life Senator, who called on police to investigate the campaigner's role in Crick's death.

"It is clear that Mrs Crick and her family relied heavily on Dr. Nitschke's advice," he said.

Nitschke is no stranger to controversy. In the 1990s he championed legislation allowing doctor-assisted suicide in Australia's Northern Territory, and then helped four people to kill themselves before the short-lived law was repealed by the federal government.

Despite the row over Crick's condition, he was not lying low Monday. Instead he addressed a conference of Australia's leading medical association in Canberra, where he promoted a resolution proposing that doctors adopt a neutral stance toward terminally-ill patients wanting to kill themselves.

The motion was defeated, but the 79-34 signaled growing support for a more liberal approach to euthanasia.

The Australian Medical Association gathering did pass another motion, 65-48, expressing support for doctors whose "primary intent is to relieve the suffering and distress of terminally ill patients in accordance with patients' wishes and interests, even though a foreseen secondary consequence is the hastening of death."

And in another Australian city, a 54-year old woman who says she has motor neurone disease (also known as ALS) told a television program she plans to kill herself next month.

Sandy Williamson of Melbourne urged the federal government to institute nationwide euthanasia laws.

See also:
Australian 'Right-To-Die' Woman Kills Herself (May 23, 2002)
Campaigners Rally Around Right-To-Die Woman (Mar. 26, 2002)
'Legalization of Euthanasia Will Harm Most Vulnerable' (Apr. 11, 2001)

E-mail a news tip to Patrick Goodenough.

Send a Letter to the Editor about this article.