Judge gives jurors copies of book written by euthanasia accused

By JAMES GARDINER

The author of a book on euthanasia has sold 12 extra copies - one for each of the jurors who are to decide whether she is guilty of attempting to murder her mother five years ago.

The judge, Justice John Wild, invited the jury to take home a copy of Lesley Martin's book, To Die Like a Dog, and read it overnight.

The judge also cautioned the media and pro- and anti-euthanasia advocates gathered in Wanganui for the trial about contempt of court, warning he would "take action" if necessary.

Lesley Martin, 40, a registered nurse, of New Plymouth, was not charged after the death of her mother, Joy, in 1999, despite admitting that she administered a large dose of the drug morphine a day before her mother passed away.

But when she published her book in 2002 telling how when the drugs failed to kill her mother she held a pillow over her head until she stopped breathing, charges were laid.

In the High Court yesterday jurors were told by Crown prosecutor Andrew Cameron that their own views on euthanasia were not relevant.

"This isn't about your own moral and philosophical opinion, it is about our law," Mr Cameron said.

"Our law does not allow euthanasia."

He said even if the jury accepted that Joy Martin had asked her daughter to end her life, it was no defence.

Joy Martin was diagnosed with rectal cancer in 1998, operated on in January 1999, suffered complications and was in and out of hospital for several months.

She suffered nausea throughout the treatment and in April a scan found she had a cancerous tumour

on her liver. She elected not to have treatment and said she wanted to be nursed by her daughter and to die at home.

Lesley Martin, an experienced intensive-care nurse, was involved in her care at home and in hospital with the consent of doctors.

Joy Martin was on a variety of drugs to treat her symptoms, including depression and nausea, and in May her doctor prescribed morphine for pain.

Lesley Martin was given 120mg of morphine and told to administer 10mg every six to eight hours.

The morphine should have lasted three days, Mr Cameron said. Instead, on the evening of May 25 Lesley Martin gave her mother 30mg of morphine and on the evening of May 27 60mg of morphine - "plainly a huge overdose".

This was in addition to morphine being administered at the rate of 10mg every 24 hours through a syringe driver set up by terminal care nurse Wiki Alward, who visited the home on May 26.

Nurse Alward did not know when she did that how much morphine Joy Martin had already been given.

Mr Cameron said Nurse Alward was "amazed" when she discovered on May 28 that all the morphine available at the home had been used.

"She will tell you that Mrs Martin was in discomfort but she was not in severe pain."

When Nurse Alward challenged Lesley Martin, she was told Martin gave her mother the morphine because her mother told her she did not want to die a slow, painful death.

"When you give someone more drugs than required to control their pain, with a view perhaps to ending their life, that is euthanasia," Mr Cameron said.

What she did not tell Nurse Alward was that when the drugs failed to kill her mother, she put a pillow over her head and held it there until her breathing stopped.

An autopsy revealed the cause as respiratory arrest caused either by the morphine or bronchio-pneumonia. There was no evidence she had been smothered.

The evidence of that is contained in Martin's book, which Mr Cameron said was published with a view to persuading New Zealanders to change the law on euthanasia.

The trial is expected to take two weeks. Dr Donald Stevens, QC, is representing Martin.

Justice Wild expressed concern about the possible reporting of statements made outside the courtroom and their potential to prejudice a fair trial.

Californian anti-euthanasia campaigner Brian Johnston and Australian pro-euthanasia campaigner Philip Nitschke, known as "Dr Death", are in Wanganui.

Justice Wild said in court that he understood that Mr Johnston had spoken to reporters outside the court and expressed views about the "rights and wrongs in this trial".

The judge told the court that comment on the trial, the evidence or the allegations was not permitted while the trial - expected to last a fortnight - was in progress.

"If I become aware of anybody doing that I will take action because that is contempt of court."