Nancy Crick

Nancy Crick (died May 21 2002 aged 69) was an Australian woman whose death was assisted by euthanasia advocate Dr. Philip Nitschke. The media used her case as a focal point for euthanasia debate in Australia. She worked as a barmaid for 30 years at the Cumberland Arms Hotel in Sydney Road, Brunswick.

Her diagnosis
She had bowel cancer, which was successfully removed with a colectomy. She had a colostomy formed as a result.

After the operation, she suffered from abdominal pain. Nitschke believed that this was due to a recurrence of her bowel cancer.

She said: "I don't know what I've got and they don't know what I've got, but whatever it is, it's bloody well there. And they can't find it with their operations and in the end it comes down to quality of life and I've got none of that now." It is unclear whether she told her surgeons about her symptoms and fully co-operated with them.

An autopsy after her death showed that she had sigmoid volvulus (bowel that is twisted on itself) and adhesions, which commonly occur after bowel surgery. Both conditions are identifiable and surgically curable with a patient's co-operation. She had no sign of the bowel cancer.



Her death
She died after swallowing an overdose of barbiturates. She was surrounded by twenty-one family and friends. It was understood that the reason so many people were present was to frustrate any prosecutor who wanted to lay charges against the observers. A prosecutor would have had to decide how many of the twenty-one, and which of them, would be charged. No charges were laid in the end.

Nancy was buried with her husband James in the Pimpama Uniting church cemetery at the Gold Coast.

She kept a diary at www.nancycrick.com