Treadwell was active and well - doctor
Now retired doctor, Lorna McCann, was asked at the High Court in Wellington yesterday about a November 2015 entry in the diary of her patient Annemarie Treadwell, where Treadwell wrote that she told her doctor she did not feel bad enough to take her own life immediately, but she had told her daughter, ‘‘not another winter’’, and she was a member of Exit.
McCann said she did not recollect the conversation, and hoped she would have recorded it, if it happened.
She agreed the diary entry might have been quite inaccurate.
Treadwell, 77, took her own life in June 2016, using the drug pentobarbitone at the Kilbirnie, Wellington, retirement village where she had lived for several years.
The Crown alleges the chairman of the Wellington branch of euthanasia organisation Exit International, Susan Dale Austen, 67, aided Treadwell’s suicide.
Some of the evidence against Austen comes from Treadwell’s diary entries that spoke about her attempts to get pentobarbitone, and help she had from ‘‘Suzy’’.
Austen has pleaded not guilty to charges of aiding Treadwell’s suicide, and two charges of importing pentobarbitone, a barbiturate whose only legal use in New Zealand was to euthanise animals.
Treadwell’s daughter has already told Austen’s trial that her mother had disabling pain in her hands that was spreading to her feet, and sometimes her hips. She also had depression. McCann said Treadwell reported having aches and pains and took paracetamol, and sometimes stronger pain relief, and took medication for depression. The antidepressant dose was higher in the winter.
Despite her problems, Treadwell struck the doctor as being good at making positive decisions for herself. Among her many older patients Treadwell had been one of the more active, well people, McCann said.
The trial was in its second day and could last three weeks.
Police have launched a homicide investigation after a 52-year-old man died in Tauranga. David Rawiri Kuka suffered serious head injuries and was pronounced dead at 11.15pm on Sunday. Emergency services were called to the property in an industrial area of Gate Pa around 10.40pm. Police confirmed it was the same address where Lance Waite was injured on January 2 before he died at Tauranga Hospital later that day, Detective Inspector Lew Warner said. ‘‘Police are working with Mr Kuka’s family and ensuring support is provided.’’
Scientist faces jail
A Dunedin scientist could end up in jail after forging dozens of prescriptions to feed his painkiller addiction, a judge has warned. Aidin Jalilzadeh pleaded guilty to forgery when he appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ jail and prison would be the starting point at the 39-year-old’s sentencing, Judge Kevin Phillips said. The police summary of facts said Jalilzadeh used his personal computer to print out 31 false prescriptions between February 9 and November 2, 2017. The prescriptions – for codeine, tramadol and diazepam – were written out to Jalilzadeh or his partner. He received legitimate prescriptions from Dunedin Hospital on two other occasions, but later added requests for codeine in his own handwriting. The 33 fake prescriptions were presented to pharmacies around Dunedin. Jalilzadeh, who works for Landcare Research in Dunedin, admitted the offending. He will be sentenced in April.