Wellington - A 79-year-old New Zealand woman euthanasia campaigner had the words "Do not resuscitate" tattooed on her chest Thursday.

Paula Westoby, 79, of Dunedin, who was filmed by the TV3 televsion network being tattooed, said that because of her age she would not want to be revived if she had a heart attack.

Westoby, who leads a local euthanasia group called Exit, told an interviewer that she was trying to make a political statement by being tattooed in public.

She said Exit wanted the law forbidding anyone helping another person to die changed.

"That's our basic thing - and to have some choice over when and how we die," she said.

"It's not easy to kill yourself," she said, "but when you've had enough and you're sick of things and goodness knows why you want to carry on living in a terrible way? Of course you don't."

Westoby said that while the New Zealand Bill of Rights stated that everyone had the right to refuse medical treatment, people who were seriously ill often could not express themselves. The tattoo was designed to make that message clear. (dpa)