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US suicide-kit seller pleads guilty of tax fraud

Dec 3rd, 2011 by

A 91-year-old Californian woman has pleaded guilty to failing to file federal tax returns for her company that made and sold helium hood kits. They were intended for the terminally ill to bring their lives to a speedy end if they wished.

Sharlotte Hydorn admitted paying no tax on $66,717 (£42,775) of income in 2010. In a plea deal, she agreed to pay $26,000 in outstanding tax.

Federal agents found the kits when they raided the retired teacher’s home in El Cajon, near San Diego, in May. She used the name of GLADD.

Footnote: There is now nowhere else that these kits can be purchased. “How to make your own helium hood kit” instructions can be downloaded as a pdf for $5 from
www.finalexit.org

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Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, Derek Humphry, Euthanasia, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, GLADD, People in the News, right to die, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Self-Deliverance, Suicide (rational) | No Comments »

When and whether to escape the tragedy of Alzheimer’s Disease

Nov 27th, 2011 by

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To view Derek Humphry’s opinion on Alzheimers Disease and the possibility of self-deliverance from it, visit this site on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheFinalExit#p/a/u/0/_jHcVEhZc_Y

Four minutes long – “The Tragic Dilemma of Alzheimer’s”

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

Where physician-assisted suicide laws stand now (2011)

Nov 19th, 2011 by

RIGHT-TO-DIE PROGRESS IN THE 20TH AND 21ST CENTURY
Various forms of medically assisted dying and/or assisted suicide for the terminally or hopelessly ill competent adult have been approved by 2011 in the following eleven states and nations. Each has its own rules and guidelines. All but Switzerland and Colombia forbid foreigners coming for this type of help to die.

Recent important research by Compassion and Choices and the Final Exit Network have uncovered assisted dying laws previously not understood in Hawaii and Georgia. (Albania’s law is obscure and disputed.)

1. Switzerland (l940)
2. Hawaii (1909, 2004)
3. Oregon (l994)
4. Georgia US (1994)
5. Colombia (l997)*
6. Albania (1999)
7. The Netherlands (2002) *
8. Belgium (2003) *
9. Luxembourg (2008) *
10. Washington (2008)
11. Montana (2009)

Notes.
England & Wales 2010 – Continue Reading »

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Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, Euthanasia, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, Politics/Law, right to die, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Self-Deliverance, Suicide (rational) | No Comments »

Assisted suicide law is a contradiction, Final Exit Network argues

Nov 8th, 2011 by

Lawyers for the Final Exit Network argued before the state Supreme Court
on Monday that Georgia’s assisted suicide law is “irrational” because it
allows someone to assist in a suicide but not to publicly advertise or
offer that help, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

But Bell-Forsyth Judicial Circuit District Attorney Penny Penn argued
that the law was created in 1994 to target “public actors” such as Dr.
Jack Kevorkian, who died in June after overseeing the suicides of more
than 100 people, or the Final Exit Network, a volunteer organization
that helps guide people “who are suffering from intolerable medical
circumstances and want to end their lives.”

Penn said the law was not set up to punish close friends, family members
or clergy who help someone hasten their death.

Four members of the Final Exit Network are accused of helping a
58-year-old Forsyth County man commit suicide Continue Reading »

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

Georgia does not criminalize physician-assisted suicide provided it is not publicized

Nov 6th, 2011 by

QUIETLY, GEORGIA BECOMES FOURTH STATE TO LEGALIZE PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE
By Robert Rivas, General Counsel, Final Exit Network, Tallahassee, Florida

ATLANTA, Georgia — Without fanfare, Georgia has become the fourth state in the United States to legalize physician-assisted suicide, the attorney general of Georgia disclosed in a brief before the Supreme Court of Georgia.

Until now, it had generally been thought — and has been repeatedly publicized — that physician-assisted suicide was legally allowed only in three states: Washington, Oregon, and Montana. The attorney general of Georgia’s interpretation of the Georgia law was disclosed Friday in a brief filed in an appeal involving four volunteers for Final Exit Network, a group charged with violating Georgia’s ban on “offering to assist in a suicide.”

In preparation for a hearing scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. on Monday in the Supreme Court of Georgia, the attorney general, Samuel S. Olens, revealed his interpretation of the Georgia statute, which previously was thought to prohibit assistance in suicide.

The attorney general of the state now says the law prohibits assisted suicide only in a case where the suspect also “publicly” advertises, offers, or holds out that he will assist in a suicide. So long as a doctor does not make any public statement about his availability to participate in physician-assisted suicide, the doctor has not violated the law of Georgia by writing prescriptions for lethal doses of drugs to enable patients to decide to die at the time of their own choosing.

In arguing that the Georgia statute makes physician-assisted suicide legal so long as a doctor keeps the practice confidential, the attorney general wrote, “The statute leaves room for doctors and patients Continue Reading »

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

Georgia Supreme Court to hear appeal in the Final Exit Network case

Nov 2nd, 2011 by

Georgia’s highest court is set to review an appeal by four members of a suicide group charged with helping a cancer-stricken man kill himself. The Georgia Supreme Court is set to hear the arguments Monday, reports A.P.

The four were indicted by a Forsyth County grand jury in March 2010. They pleaded not guilty to charges that they tampered with evidence, violated anti-racketeering laws and helped the man kill himself.

They argue that Georgia’s statute on assisted suicide is unconstitutional because they say it violates their rights to free speech, equal protection and due process. The trial court rejected those arguments, ruling the statute constitutional.

The high court has agreed to hear their appeal prior to trial to determine whether the trial court erred in ruling the law constitutional.

In April, Forsyth County Superior Court Judge David Dickinson rejected a defense attorney’s free-speech challenge in the case of four members of the “Final Exit Network.”

The four members of the network were arrested in February 2009 after 58-year-old John Celmer’s death at his Cumming home, following an eight-month investigation by state authorities that included an undercover agent posing as someone seeking to commit suicide.

A grand jury in March 2010 indicted Dr. Lawrence Egbert, medical director and co-founder of the group; Ted Goodwin, the group’s former president; group member Claire Blehr; and regional coordinator Nicholas Alec Sheridan.

Georgia law makes it a felony for anyone who “publicly advertises, offers or holds himself or herself out as offering that he or she will intentionally and actively assist another person in the commission of suicide and commits any overt act to further that purpose.” It sets a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

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

Dr Kevorkian’s suicide machine fails to sell

Oct 29th, 2011 by

Friday’s estate sale of Jack Kevorkian’s personal possessions included a variety of items, from his plastic hair comb (didn’t sell) to the initial design prototype for his Thanatron “death machine.”

It had been estimated to sell for $100,000 to $200,000, but the highest bid was $65,000, said the auction firm handling the sale. Little of his small correspondence collection sold, but the only known copy of his “MERCY CLINIC” business card brought in $1,200.

The bullet-proof vest he wore to trials after numerous death threats brought $5,000. His iconic blue cardigan sweater, with careful hand-made repairs, sold for $500. Most of his paintings, each estimated to be worth $70,000 – $100,000, didn’t sell, as the ownership rights to them are disputed by an Armenian museum in the United States.

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Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, Dignitas, Euthanasia, People in the News, right to die, RTD News, Suicide (rational) | No Comments »

New publications from Derek Humphry about self-deliverance

Oct 25th, 2011 by

Two new internet publications from Derek Humphry:

“How to Make Your Own Helium Hood Kit.” Pamphlet. Illustrated. $5. Download pdf

“Beyond Final Exit: Lessons Learned” Mini ebook. $5 Download pdf

Save them to your computer, also print your own copy.

Go to www.finalexit.org

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Posted in Assisted dying, Books, Derek Humphry, Dignitas, Euthanasia, Final Exit, Hemlock, Publications/InternetMedia, right to die, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Self-Deliverance, Suicide (rational), Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Public speakers on the right to choose to die

Oct 11th, 2011 by

KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Derek Humphry, founder of the original Hemlock Society USA in l980, was the keynote speaker at the 2011 annual meeting of Compassion and Choices of Washington state on Saturday, October 22.

A journalist and author, Humphry is well known as the author of the bestselling books ‘Jean’s Way’ and ‘Final Exit’.

There were more than 200 people at the meeting, standing room only!

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Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, Derek Humphry, Dignitas, Euthanasia, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, GLADD, Hemlock, People in the News, right to die, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Self-Deliverance | No Comments »

Launch of new pamphlet on how to make a helium hood kit yourself

Oct 7th, 2011 by

PLEASE NOTE: This pamphlet is outdated. 08/2020 Information now in the Ebook “Final Exit 2020”
at
https://www.finalexit.org/ergo-store


——————
How To Make Your Own Helium Hood Kit
Information for competent adults who are terminally or hopelessly ill and wish to die
2011 Addendum to Chapter 23 of Final Exit book & Final Exit on DVD

By Derek Humphry

Published October 2011 10 Pages • PDF * Price: $5.00

Available ONLY through the ERGO Bookstore

NOTE: Persons with severe depression or mental health problems are asked not to use ‘Final Exit’ or the information in this Addendum, but instead seek professional psychological care.

Document Description:
Helium hood kits which have been used by hundreds of people who wished peacefully to end their lives because of protracted terminal or hopeless illness. Unfortunately, currently there are no reliable suppliers of the kits. Thus it is necessary to make your own kit if you wish to explore this form of self-deliverance. This right-to-die method is legal because it is not assisted suicide nor voluntary euthanasia.

Derek Humphry, author of the world’s best-known how-to book on choices in dying, “Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying,” has written this detailed guide to how to make a helium hood kit.

This PDF document, with illustrations, outlines the following points:
• Materials and Items Needed for Helium Method
• Sourcing the Parts and Materials
• Location and Setup
• Preparing the Tanks and Tubing
• Making the “Hood”
• Instructions for Hastening Death (in the event of irreversible illness that is causing unbearable suffering)
• Cautions
• DVD Images and Illustrations
• Book and Video Resources

To ensure a smooth departure, it is strongly advised that a person also carefully reads the latest revised edition of “Final Exit” book/eBook and watches “Final Exit DVD” both available at the ERGO Bookstore.

The author, Derek Humphry, who now has more than 30 years experience in the death with dignity movement, helped his first wife Jean to die when suffering a lingering death from breast cancer. His book on that event, ‘Jean’s Way’ is a cult classic. Five years after her death he founded the Hemlock Society at his new home in Santa Monica. Derek built the group into a national organization between 1980 and 1992.(Hemlock was merged in 2003 into another organization, Compassion and Choices.)

Today Humphry runs the Euthanasia Research and Guidance Organization (ERGO), a small, nonprofit organization based outside of Eugene, Oregon. He is a policy adviser to the American group, the Final Exit Network, and to the World Federation of Right to Die Societies, of which he was president in 1988-90.

To get the $5 pamphlet, go to the 2nd icon on the ERGO Bookstore.

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Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, Books, death, Derek Humphry, Dignitas, Euthanasia, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, GLADD, Hemlock, Politics/Law, right to die, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Self-Deliverance, Suicide (rational) | 4 Comments »

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