Pacific Rim Bureau (CNSNews.com) - Australia's leading euthanasia proponent has admitted it was a "mistake" not to make public his knowledge that a woman who killed herself last week did not have cancer at the time of her death.

Anti-euthanasia campaigners have called for an investigation into the actions of Philip Nitschke, whose 69-year-old patient, Nancy Crick, was buried Wednesday.

Crick took her life a week earlier, following a campaign to legalize euthanasia in Australia - a campaign overseen by Nitschke. Crick's efforts to promote euthanasia included an Internet diary of her struggle.

A subsequent post mortem found no sign of the terminal bowel cancer Crick and the euthanasia lobby claimed was killing her.

Police are investigating Crick's death, including the presence of 21 people who were with her when she swallowed a lethal barbiturate. Under Australian law they could be liable for criminal prosecution.

When the news broke that her cancer was in remission at the time of her death, Nitschke confirmed Crick had known beforehand that doctors could find no traces of cancer. It had apparently been successfully removed during earlier surgery. Nitschke had been present during one medical consultation two months ago when Crick was told this.

Speaking at Crick's funeral, Nitschke conceded he should have been clearer about Crick's medical condition before her death.

"I think it was a mistake. I think that in the general furor of trying to get this organized, one should have stressed more that there was difficulty in diagnosis."

But he echoed the words of other euthanasia campaigners who said the cancer issue was academic, as Crick's quality of life - she said she was suffering from extreme pain, nausea and diarrhea - was so poor that she wanted to end it.

"Chronic suffering is more than enough" to justify voluntary euthanasia, he said.

'Not manipulated'

Members of Crick's family were quoted as saying that they were shocked to learn she was cancer-free.

But the family challenged the view that the woman had been influenced by the euthanasia campaigners.

"She was not manipulated or a fool, rather a woman who knew exactly what she wanted and set out to get it," the family said in a statement handed out after the funeral. "Those suggesting otherwise simply did not know her."

The family said they were "saddened her death is surrounded in such controversy" - an apparent reference to the cancer issue, rather than the suicide itself.

Dr. Trevor Mudge, the vice-president of the Australian Medical Association, said he hoped the police investigation would establish the facts about Crick's death.

"I think what we need to avoid is suicide under pressure of depression or under pressure from inadequate medical care in a palliative sense," Australian radio quoted him as saying.

Trust, an anti-euthanasia group of doctors, lawyers and others, has called on the authorities in Crick's Queensland state to probe Nitschke's handling of the case.

Trust spokesman David van Gend said the Queensland Medical Board had the responsibility to investigate whether he had breached his duty by acting firstly "as an activist, and secondly as a doctor."

Van Gend also warned that the "grim nature" of some family relationships could result in some people putting pressure on vulnerable relatives, should euthanasia be legalized.

The registrar of the Queensland Medical Board was not available for comment Thursday.

Also critical of Nitschke was the premier of Queensland, Peter Beattie, who said the state and the country had been "misled" about Crick's condition.

Despite the post mortem findings and Nitschke's foreknowledge of her condition, an obituary describing Crick to have been dying remained posted on her website Thursday.

The obituary, by Nitschke's group Exit Australia, repeatedly calls Crick "terminally ill," and also uses such phrases as "just like all people who know they are dying ..." and "when you are dying anyway ..."