Police have reopened an inquiry into an elderly woman's death after her daughter admitted in a book that she twice tried to end her mother's life.
In To Die Like A Dog, published last month, Wanganui euthanasia campaigner Lesley Martin revealed she tried to kill her terminally ill mother, Joy Martin,
in May 1999.
She had previously used her right to remain silent to avoid making a statement about the death when police investigated.
Police investigated the death for 10 months.
An autopsy showed no evidence of suffocation, but toxicology reports showed a fatal level of morphine in Joy Martin's blood and liver.
Senior Sergeant Colin Irvine of Wanganui said the file on the death would be re-examined.
"If a person has died and another person is involved in their death, then the police would certainly review the file and the circumstances surrounding that person's death," he said.
Joy Martin, 68, was diagnosed with rectal cancer in December 1998 and went downhill rapidly.
Lesley Martin said in her book that she injected her mother with an overdose of morphine the day before she died and held a pillow over her face as she died.
- NZPA
