A TERMINALLY ill nurse was forced to grow a hydroponic marijuana crop worth more than $45,000 to help ease her cancer symptoms.

But Blue Mountains woman Claudia Dudson lost her fight with oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma three weeks ­before she could harvest it on August 30 last year.

The 59-year-old had her oesophagus removed in 2014 and was diagnosed with lung cancer soon after. Desperate for relief from extreme nausea, vomiting and pain, she set up a 19-plant ­hyd-roponic crop in the Wentworth Falls home of friend Keith Wolfson.

media_camera Claudia Dudson (right, with niece Claire) died last August from oesophagus squamous cell carcinoma. Picture: Supplied

“I have been a meticulously law-abiding citizen all of my life and have ­devoted my life to helping others,” Ms Dudson wrote.

“I was therefore deeply distressed ... to choose between a path of hopelessness, despair and progression to an unpleasant death or a criminal act.”

Mr Wolfson, a 64-year-old history teacher, said he ­destroyed the crop soon after his friend’s death. “I would do it for anyone that was close to me,” he said.

The controlled cultivation of cannabis for medicinal use is part of a federal government bill to be debated in parliament this week.

Mr Wolfson also accused Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District of not adequately treating Ms Dudson’s pneumonia in the 48 hours ­before her death.

“She got the death she feared rather than the death she wanted,” he said.

In a letter to Mr Wolfson in October last year, the LHD’s clinical director Dr Michael Noel disputed that claim, saying “she died from progressive weakness due to the overwhelming burden of her ­advanced cancer”.

media_camera Wentworth Falls man Keith Wolfson. Picture: Supplied

The NSW Government has invested $12 million to establish the Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research and Innovation, as well as $9m for three clinical trials.

These trials are for adults with a terminal illness, children with severe, drug-resistant epilepsy and adults with chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting.

The controlled cultivation of cannabis for medicinal or scientific purposes — allowed through one single national licensing scheme — is part of a Federal Government bill to be debated in parliament this week.

type_quote_start “She got the death that she feared rather than the death that she wanted” type_quote_end

Mr Wolfson has also accused Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District of not adequately treating Ms Dudson’s pneumonia in the 48 hours before her death.

As a result, he said she choked to death in her Wentworth Falls home.

“She got the death that she feared rather than the death that she wanted,” Mr Wolfson said.

In a letter to Mr Wolfson in October last year, the LHD’s clinical director Dr Michael Noel disputed that claim, saying “she died from progressive weakness due to the overwhelming burden of her advanced metastatic oesophageal cancer”.

Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District chief executive Kay Hyman said they handed over a detailed review of Claudia Dudson’s care in October 2015.

“I offer my sincere condolences to Mr Wolfson and Ms Dudson’s family,” Mrs Hyman said.

“Palliative care clinicians are trained to assess each patient for suffering and then offer appropriate management strategies in line with current best practices.

“Patients’ quality of life is a priority for our palliative care clinicians who work in consultation with the patient and other people important to the patient.”