Euthanasia saga: dead woman identified

The woman believed to have sparked a controversial police investigation into a pro- euthanasia group has been identified.

Annemarie Treadwell died in June, and Exit International confirmed she was a long time member of the organisation.

She also signed a petition in January in support of assisted dying.

Treadwell i s believed to have acquired the drug Nembutal, which contains pentobarbitone, a sedative most commonly used to put down animals.

A woman appeared in court yesterday charged with importing the same drug.

Philip Nitschke, director of Exit International, confirmed yesterday that Treadwell’s death was believed to have sparked the controversial investigation which saw police set up a fake drink- drive checkpoint targeting people who attended an Exit International meeting in Lower Hutt earlier this month.

“She was a member of Exit for a number of years,” Nitschke said.

“I understand that that’s formed the basis of the original inquiry by the coroner into the use of the drug Nembutal.”

It was believed that this inquiry sparked the police investigation which led to the fake checkpoint, he said.

Nembutal is a Class C controlled drug in New Zealand.

The Wellington chairwoman of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society, Susan Dale Austen, known as Suzy, appeared yesterday in the Wellington District Court, charged with importing pentobarbitone.

The 65- year- old Lower Hutt teacher did not enter a plea.

A police spokeswoman said that the charges arose from the Operation Painter investigation. They were not connected to the checkpoint, she said.

In her submission to Voluntary Euthanasia Society president Maryan Street’s petition for assisted dying, Treadwell said she had suffered from arthritis for 30 years, and lived in chronic pain. She also suffered from depression and short- term memory loss.

“I did not and do not want to be a burden to my children,” she wrote.