Members of pro-euthanasia group Exit International are being warned not to talk to police about suicides related to the organisation, founder Philip Nitschke says.
Mr Nitschke, who continues to fight for his registration to practise medicine because of allegations he helped a murder suspect who was not terminally ill die, said police were increasingly investigating suicides involving the drug he recommends.
After The Age reported that Dorothy Hookey's family were disturbed by a police investigation into her "rational suicide" to end intolerable pain, Mr Nitschke said he was advising Exit members of their right to remain silent if police question them about such deaths.
"Suicide is NOT a crime, and people like Dorothy need no assistance to take this lawful step," he wrote in an email.
"She had informed Exit of her plans to possibly end her life years ago, and had prepared herself for this possibility by acquiring the appropriate euthanasia drug."
Mrs Hookey's bereaved husband, Graham Hookey, told Fairfax Media that his wife had deliberately chosen to take her life alone in bed without telling anybody about the timing because she feared implicating them.
In Victoria, it is a criminal offence to incite, aid or abet a suicide and the maximum penalty is five years' jail. Despite Mrs Hookey, 86, leaving a note to explain her actions when she died on November 27, Mr Hookey said police had searched his home twice to investigate whether anybody else was involved.
The case prompted Victorian Sex Party MP Fiona Patten to call for a parliamentary debate about voluntary euthanasia so police could stop wasting their resources on such investigations.
"It is now time for the community and politicians to once and for all have a wide debate about voluntary euthanasia and agree that everyone has the right to a dignified death," said the Member for Northern Metro.
"The community is overwhelmingly in favour of giving people the right to end their life when they have decided to do so - with a strict set of guidelines."
When asked about the Hookey family on Tuesday, Premier Daniel Andrews said he hoped Victorian police and others in the community would be "appropriately sensitive to anyone suffering a terminal illness and those who have provided care to them".
"These are very deeply personal and sensitive matters. The law is the law though and people have a job to do. But I would urge everybody involved to be as sensitive and respectful as they possibly can," he said.
Victoria Police statistics show only five charges of aiding or abetting a suicide have been recorded since 2010.
Vice-president of Dying with Dignity Victoria, Dr Rodney Syme, said after years of watching police investigations into various suicides and being interviewed himself over some deaths, it was unlikely the police would prosecute anybody over Mrs Hookey's death.
"You have to actually do something to aid and abet and there has be proof of it," he said. "In the absence of any evidence, it's almost impossible to prosecute."
Paul Russell, director of anti euthanasia group, HOPE, said police should be investigating deaths like Mrs Hookey's to ensure no one else was directly involved.
"To my knowledge the extent of what constitutes assistance in suicide has never been tested – perhaps it should be," he said.
"In reality, what has occurred here is suicide and I think we need to question, as a society, whether we are comfortable with elderly people suiciding or whether we should continue to promote suicide prevention for all. Reality is, you can't really have both."
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