Bulletin 9: Misinformation About Nancy Crick

5th May 2008

You will have received a bulletin from SuicideNo stating “In 2002 Nancy Crick chose to suicide with the assistance of a doctor under similar legislation in the Northern Territory. Although she insisted that she was terminally ill, a post-mortem revealed no trace of a terminal illness. She wanted someone to assist her to commit suicide, and the law made that possible.”

This is factually wrong and grossly misleading. We believe that Members deserve a much higher standard of information than that shown by SuicideNo and here’s why:

• Nancy Crick died in Queensland, not the Northern Territory.
• She died in 2002, five years after the Northern Territory Rights of the Terminally Ill Act was overturned by Federal Parliament.
• No Physician Assisted Dying law has been enacted anywhere in Australia since the NT one, and so Nancy Crick was not assisted by any law, as claimed.
• Her appearance was skin over bone and she suffered intolerably from nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and pain, which were not relieved by the best palliative care.
• Crick earlier had cancer, which was treated. The post mortem found no evidence of cancer, not a lack of evidence of a terminal illness.
• Her bowel was profoundly diseased (but not cancerous), causing her to slowly starve to death. Previous bowel operations had proven futile and she refused more of them.
• Crick deliberated for a long time before taking her life in response to the intolerable and unrelievable suffering, evidenced by her Internet blog site and numerous interviews with journalists. Her decision was very carefully and rationally considered.

The purpose of the Medical Treatment (Physician Assisted Dying) Bill 2008 is to provide a formal, legal process involving multiple medical opinions and documentation, ensuring that each sufferer making a request for assistance to die peacefully does so according to strict safeguards. Such a system would have legally provided relief for Nancy Crick.