Assisted Suicide Victim Had No Cancer
From:  David (DavidABrown)    5/29/2002 9:47 am  
To:  ALL    
 
  393.1  
 
From:  The Pro-Life Infonet www.prolifeinfo.org
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt infonet@prolifeinfo.org
Subject:   Assisted Suicide Activist Had No Cancer At Time Of Death
Source:   Cybercast News Service; May 28, 2002

Assisted Suicide Activist Had No Cancer At Time Of Death

Sydney, Australia -- 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-life advocates have attacked the campaigners
credibility, 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.

Nitschke, 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 supposed 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.

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 than 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 Nitschke's
advice," he said.

Nitschke is no stranger to controversy. In the 1990s he championed
legislation allowing 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 debate 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
permissive 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.

--
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David A. Brown
Basic Christian: Forum



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Edited 5/30/2002 2:39:00 AM ET by David (DAVIDABROWN) 
