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The suicide of a terminally ill Queensland woman has sparked renewed debate on voluntary euthanasia, with uncertainty over whether friends and relatives who witnessed the death will face criminal prosecution.

Grandmother Nancy Crick, 70, who was suffering from terminal bowel cancer, died in her home on the Gold Coast, south of Brisbane, on Wednesday night.

Supporters said she drank a favourite liqueur, had a last puff on a cigarette and then took an overdose of drugs before slipping into unconsciousness.

Crick had made public her intentions to end her life earlier this year and had even set up a Web site, nancycrick.com, where she campaigned against the criminalisation of assisting in a suicide.

In an interview recorded two days ago and released yesterday, Crick said it was entirely her own decision to end her life.

'I'm not depressed, unstable or mad. I've simply reached the point where my life is done now and I want to die peacefully,' she said.

She said she was deeply upset that while she could commit suicide within the law, it was illegal for friends and family to be by her side.

Nevertheless, 21 friends and relatives were with her when she died and could, in theory, face life in prison.

Her statement continued: 'If anybody out there is asked to serve on a jury that is called upon to judge those who bravely chose to be with me when I died, I want you to acquit these people who have stood by me.'

In the months before her death, Crick had taken advice from controversial euthanasia advocate Dr Philip Nitschke.

At a press conference in Darwin yesterday, Dr Nitschke said: 'Twenty-one brave people chose to break a law that could result in them receiving life imprisonment. This is the first time strategies of mass civil disobedience have been used in the voluntary euthanasia movement.'

Crick's death set off a bitter debate between pro- and anti-euthanasia groups.

Dr Rodney Syme, of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society, said anyone with common sense would not consider the actions of Crick's supporters a crime.

'The legislation says it's a crime to assist. It doesn't define what assisting is. Are those people assisting by merely doing a humane and compassionate thing?' Dr Syme asked.

However, the Right to Life organisation said it was 'very saddened' to hear of Crick's death and called for a full investigation.



Presence of 21 at  suicide rekindles  euthanasia debate