Chapter 11: Deliberate Termination of Life and Physician Assisted Suicide: Aid in Dying
Section 5. Case Study

Name: Anne Green

Case: Assisted suicide death of Nancy Crick

Description: Nancy Crick, 69 years old and from Australia, supposedly suffered from bowel cancer and was in constant and extreme pain. With the help of Australian euthanasia advocate Dr. Philip Nitschke, (who is inspired by Peter Singer’s principles on legalized euthanasia), Mrs. Crick decided to commit suicide in order to be free of the extreme pain she was suffering. Crick, 69, killed herself on May 22, 2002, with a powerful barbiturate and surrounded by 21 friends and supporters. In the days after her death, an autopsy was performed and found no traces of the bowel cancer that she claimed to have been suffering from. This case is currently under investigation.

 

Info:

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/05/27/1022243311566.html

http://www.news.com.au/common/printpage/0,6093,4393223,00.html

Mrs. Crick’s personal web page: http://www.protection.net.au/nancycrick/

http://www.cnsnews.com/ForeignBureaus/archive/200205/FOR20020528c.html

 

 

Religious, Medical, Legal, Philosophical Commentary

Peter Singer’s influence on the Crick case:

http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=news&subclass=national&category=general%20news&story_id=151700&y=2002&m=5

Right to Life Association on euthanasia:

http://www.actrtla.org.au/euth/euthanas.htm

Religious commentary about the Crick case:

http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/2002/may02/Cook.htm

AMA policy on end of life care:

http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/2830.html

 

 

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© Copyright Philip A. Pecorino 2002. All Rights reserved.

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