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A guide to feature movies, true life films and documentary videos

Aug 30th, 2013 by

A UNIQUE LIST
You may like to see my up-to-date new listings of the films and videos made between l939 and 2013, and perhaps bookmark the site for future reference.
ERGO’s Annotated Filmography
Films, Made for TV Dramas, TV Documentaries and Videos Dealing with Dying and Euthanasia. Divided into three sections:
1. Feature films dealing with aspects of dying and death
2. Made for TV Movie Dramas
3. Television and/or DVD Documentaries
Go to this site:
http://www.finalexit.org/assisted_suicide_in_the_movies.html

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Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, Blogroll, Derek Humphry, Euthanasia, Film/TV/Radio, Final Exit, Hemlock, People in the News, Politics/Law, right to die, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Self-Deliverance, Suicide (rational), Uncategorized | No Comments »

Guarding against the possibility of Alzheimers or dementia

Aug 22nd, 2013 by

MY LAST WISHES
The Living Will/Advance Directive named “My last wishes: In the event of irreversible cognitive decline” is available for $5 download pdf at this ERGO Bookstore site:
http://www.finalexit.org/ergo-store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=187&zenid=ffa9b1450c3a2e65b7f8cacef68d9696
or
www.finalexit.org/ergo-store
See the icon named “Control and Choice” low down the books page.

Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, right to die, RTD News, Self-Deliverance, Suicide (rational) | No Comments »

First signs of dementia and he’d want to die — doctor

Aug 21st, 2013 by

The Mirror in London printed this article by Dr Irwin on 19 August 2013:
Euthanasia: The right to die should be a matter of personal choice

Retired GP Michael Irwin is patron of the British Humanist Association and coordinator of the Society for Old Age Rational Suicide (SOARS)
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We are able to choose all kinds of things in life from who we marry to what kind of work we do and I think when one comes to the end of one’s life, whether you have a terminal illness or whether you’re elderly, you should have a choice about what happens to you.
There are so many people getting early dementia and if they are mentally competent they should be allowed to decide if they want to stay alive as their dementia develops or take assisted suicide.
I’m 82 and if I get diagnosed with dementia I will be on the next plane to Switzerland.
I wouldn’t want to see myself deteriorating and be completely unaware of my surroundings.
I don’t want the burden to be placed on my family.
The fact that the NHS [UK National Health Service] is now focusing more and more on early diagnosis of dementia would give options for early doctor-assisted suicide – which is an excellent option for people to have.
When you have a medical condition like dementia, which is incurable, the choice of seeing yourself deteriorate or have a quick exit is something you should be able to make.
I have made a living will where I stipulate that if I develop any condition which renders me mentally incompetent for more than two weeks then I do not want to be kept alive.
I’m pro life – I want to live as long as I possibly can, but l also believe the law should be changed to let anyone with some severe medical condition which is causing unbearable symptoms to have an assisted suicide. I wouldn’t want to be unnecessarily kept alive against my own will.
…

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Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, Dignitas, Final Exit, Hemlock, Living Will, Opinion Pieces, right to die, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Self-Deliverance, Suicide (rational) | No Comments »

Information on organ donation after death

Aug 15th, 2013 by

A good many people who are interested in choices in dying are also seeking information about organ donation. Here is some useful information on the subject compiled by a colleague, John Abraham, in Arizona. He writes:

I have long been a proponent of establishing body farms (not like the TN operation where bodies are left to decompose, but a place where organs can be harvested). We could have centers that retain and sustain “neomorts” (my term for newly dead bodies) from which organs could be salvaged. Given that this is unlikely in the foreseeable future, here is some additional information:

Donating your body serves science and might save you money. Some facilities that accept donations provide a free cremation. Check “body donation programs” maintained by the University of Florida State Anatomical Board. Most provide body pick-up and return the cremains within a year or two.

Most major medical schools have similar programs.

The Anatomy Gifts Registry receives body donations utilizing one of two possible methods:
(1) Gift of Body by Will – – Recently supported by new drafts of the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (UAGA), this process is both a way to register in advance and alert your family members to your wishes. This method will not require your family’s authorization upon your death, and AGR’s comprehensive form also serves as an authorization to cremate.
(2) Gift of Body by Informed Consent – This method requires an AGR representative to obtain consent from your legal next-of-kin, or authorized agent, upon your death. The consent is typically obtained by telephonic recording. This method enables AGR, unlike many other similar programs, to obtain body donations without any advance registration.
Some organizations which claim to be “national” have a limited scope, such as Life Legacy which does not operate in some western states and only serves major metropolitan areas in other states such as MI and AZ.
Life Legacy
http://www.lifelegacy.org

Science Care
http://www.sciencecare.com

BioGift Anatomical, Inc.
http://www.biogift.org/index.html

MedCure Inc.
http://www.medcure.org/index.html

Anatomy Gifts Registry
http://www.anatomicgift.com

Medical Education & Research Institute
http://www.genesislegacy.org/home.htm

John Abraham, Tucson, AZ 520-235-5646 (J-O-H-N)
www.DeathAndDyingHelp.com
Video Link — http://youtu.be/0fnVUI48FxM

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Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, Dead, death, Derek Humphry, Euthanasia, exit bag, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, Organ donation, right to die, RTD News, Self-Deliverance, Suicide (rational) | No Comments »

Beware of fraud in drug purchases

Jul 9th, 2013 by

BUYERS BEWARE
It is a sad fact that some people urgently needing lethal medications to relieve their terminal suffering are being cheated by overseas dealers using the internet.
I am currently getting more reports of fraud than successes.
In particular, Thailand is infamous for its phony drug trade; even ordinary, domestic medications are often diluted. One source of barbiturates there asks for $500 to be sent Western Union and then will not fulfill until another $500 is sent for courier costs.
Some sources in China will supply, others will cheat. So it is impossible to identify which are the reliable dealers. (Therefore do not ask me.)
Mexican sources are sometimes honest, sometimes not.
It appears that some dealers are reliable to begin with, and then when a flurry of orders come in they take the money and run. Usual asking price is $500-$600 US dollars for something which probably cost them $30-$40.
Sorry to have to report these facts to those in dire need, but it is based on incoming information from victims.
Even when the purchased drugs do arrive, there remains the question of whether they are genuine
and of sufficient strength. Therefore the exit bag –helium hood kit — remains the most reliable method of self-deliverance from a terminal or hopeless illness.
— Derek Humphry,
www.finalexit.org

Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, death, Derek Humphry, Dignitas, Euthanasia, exit bag, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, Hemlock, Mexico, Nembutal, Peru, right to die, RTD News, Self-Deliverance, Suicide (rational) | 2 Comments »

No evidence that helium tanks are diluted

Jun 10th, 2013 by

Derek Humphry notes August 2015: This post is now out-of-date.
Worthington Industries, maker of the Party Balloon Kits, is now diluting its helium tanks by 20 percent, making them useless for self-deliverance from a terminal illness. Seek pure helium elsewhere.

Re: The internet rumors about diluted helium

UPDATE
Suggest you read my new (Aug.2015) pamphlet on this: How to make your own inert gas hood kit” on www.finalexit.org/ergo-store
Well illustrated.

The following is now out-of-date information:
At a recent Compassion and Choices meeting in Sante Fe, New Mexico, an elderly member of the audience stated that helium was now being diluted, thus unsafe for use in self-deliverance. He said he got this information from the internet.

In the ten years since the method of accelerating death by use of the inert gas helium was announced, there has never come to notice a single case of diluted tank of gas. I have trolled all those in North America who know about helium cases and no person has ever come across a diluted tank. All the known self-deliverances from terminal or hopeless illness using this method were effective.
………………..

There are alternatives: nitrogen and argon are also inert gases which are lethal when inhaled in a enclosed space.
— Derek Humphry, Oregon

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Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, death, Derek Humphry, Euthanasia, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, right to die, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Self-Deliverance, Suicide (rational) | 1 Comment »

TV show discusses use of the helium hood method of self-deliverance

May 21st, 2013 by

Discussion on TV of the helium hood method

Another sign of the public acceptance of assisted suicide for the terminally ill was a unusual scene on Monday, 20 May 2013, in the successful series program “The Big C” shown on the Showtime television channel in America and internationally.
This was the closure of the fourth and final season when the main character, played by Laura Linney as Catherine “Cathy” Jamison, who has been diagnosed with terminal (stage IV) melanoma several years previously, faces her end. She is now in hospice, which she loves and admires.
As she prepares to die, Cathy has a discussion of people round her bedside of the ways to accelerate death. There is a serious discussion of using a lethal overdose and then the helium hood method is considered in detail, using two tanks. Cathy remarks that it is not very dignified to have to put a plastic bag over one’s head but she does not dismiss the idea.
Then follows an unrealistic scene where somebody says that a doctor in Oregon will supply the lethal drugs provided somebody will fly from the east coast to get them. Cathy asks her brother to go for the drugs but he avoids this request. (It is most unlikely that any doctor in Oregon would do this; it would jeopardize his medical license.)
The character Cathy dies soon after from a natural cause.
The Big C is a Showtime original television series created by Darlene Hunt. It is a very tasteful and sincere program looking at the realities of death and dying. Taking in the self-deliverance option added to its significance.
—– Derek Humphry, author, Final Exit, and How to Make Your Own Helium Hood Kit

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Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, death, Derek Humphry, Euthanasia, Film/TV/Radio, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, RTD News, Self-Deliverance, Suicide (rational) | No Comments »

International right-to-die conference in Chicago

May 15th, 2013 by

World conference on choices in dying

For details about the 20th biennial conference of the World Federation
of Right to Die Societies, to be hosted in Chicago next year by the
Final Exit Network, go to this new link:

www.WFconf2014.com

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Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, Euthanasia, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, Hemlock, Politics/Law, right to die, RTD News, RTD Organizations | No Comments »

Vermont becoming first US state to legislate physician-assisted suicide

May 14th, 2013 by

The Vermont House and Senate have now both approved the same version of a law based on Oregon’s model Death with Dignity legislation, and the bill now heads to the governor’s desk for signature.
In the past, Governor Shumlin has indicated he’ll sign the bill if it reaches his desk. With the Governor’s signature, Vermont will become the third state with an assisted dying law and the first state to enact this law through a legislative process — a historic achievement.
The bill now heads to Governor Shumlin’s desk for final approval. With his signature, Vermont will take the historic step of becoming the first state to enact Death with Dignity through a legislative process.
The similar Oregon and Washington laws were passed by voters’ initiatives.

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Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, death, Derek Humphry, Dignitas, Euthanasia, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, Politics/Law, right to die, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Suicide (rational) | No Comments »

Montana’s physician-assisted suicide law survives

Apr 15th, 2013 by

Montana Senate rejects bill banning doctor-assisted suicide

The Montana Senate has rejected a measure that would have made it illegal for doctors and caregivers to help terminally ill people kill themselves.
House Bill 505 was struck down 15 April 2013 in a 27-23 floor vote.
The Montana Supreme Court had ruled in 2009 that nothing in state law
prohibits assisted suicide, effectively making Montana the third state
to allow it. The Legislature previously failed to pass a bill regulating
the act, and this proposal would have criminalized it.
The bill’s sponsor said the plan would clarify the court ruling by unequivocally outlawing the procedure.
Other supporters of the bill said physician-assisted suicide is a recipe for elder abuse and the government has a responsibility to protect the vulnerable older population.
But assisted-suicide backers from both sides of the aisle argued the
procedure preserves the dignity and rights of the dying.

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Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, death, Derek Humphry, Euthanasia, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, Hemlock, Politics/Law, right to die, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Suicide (rational) | No Comments »

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