Doctor-Aided Suicide Is Linked to Body at School

Authorities have found the body of a leukemia patient they believe is the woman whom a doctor claimed in a prestigious medical journal to have helped commit suicide.

The body, which a community college had planned to use as an instructional cadaver, was taken to the Monroe County Medical Examiner’s office, a spokeswoman for the office said Friday. The spokeswoman, who declined to be identified, said officials believe it is the body of Dr. Timothy E. Quill’s patient.

Monroe County Dist. Atty. Howard R. Relin refused to comment on the discovery. He had said earlier that the investigation into the woman’s death was at a standstill because authorities could not produce a body.

In the March 7 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, Quill said he prescribed barbiturates for a 45-year-old leukemia patient and made sure that she knew how many pills to take to commit suicide. Quill identified the patient only as Diane.

After publication of the article, Relin said he would investigate whether charges should be brought against Quill. But earlier this month he said he could not prosecute Quill because of a lack of evidence.

If there is no body or other physical evidence of a crime, “you don’t have a prosecution or the possibility of a prosecution,” he said.

Quill has refused to release any information about Diane unless he is granted immunity from prosecution, which Relin has refused to grant him.

The body of the woman believed to be Diane was picked up Thursday from Monroe Community College. The body had been stored at the college since May, 1990, when it was acquired from the University of Rochester to use for dissection, but had not been touched, spokesman Joseph Paglia said.

Paglia said community college officials did not know the identity of the body and did not know how law enforcement officials had located it.