It is hoped police will come down hard on an American who helped an Auckland woman commit suicide.
Police are investigating her death which is said to have been assisted by the American woman who flew to the country last year.
She is thought to have pocketed more than $10,000 to assist the suicide of a middle-aged woman who was suffering from depression.
The news has shocked both those who are for and against the right to die.
Right to Life spokesman Ken Orr is outraged the woman received monetary gain for helping someone die and that she has committed a serious offence by assisting a suicide.
Dignity New Zealand spokeswoman Lesley Martin, who was jailed for assisting in the death of her terminally ill mother, also says she is disgusted someone might take money for assisting suicides. Martin fears it could damage a rational debate on the need for right-to-die laws.
She says if random strangers assist in deaths and the sick person changes their mind, it becomes murder.
New Zealand First MP Peter Brown, whose pro-Euthanasia bill on the issue was narrowly defeated five years ago, says the recent case is shocking.
He says that under his bill, a terminally ill person would have to go to a great deal of effort to justify a legal killing.
Brown says they would have to have counselling to make sure they knew the full ramifications of their death.
