Switzerland has announced plans to crack down on so-called ‘suicide tourism’ by signalling that it might close the Dignitas clinic that has helped hundreds of terminally ill people to end their lives.
The plans, in the form of two draft Bills that will be offered for public debate, are likely to set off a rush of patients from Britain and elsewhere in Europe since Switzerland has become the main destination for those seeking assisted suicide.
Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, the Justice Minister, said that two options would be presented to parliament: either clinics such as Dignitas and Exit, which deals chiefly with Swiss patients, will have to accept much stricter regulation or they will be closed down.
Tags: Assisted Suicide, assisted suicide laws, choice in dying, Dignitas, dignitas switzerland, Final Exit
Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, Dead, death, Euthanasia, Politics/Law, right to die, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Self-Deliverance, Suicide (rational) | No Comments »
A judge has ruled that the state of Georgia must return funds seized from a group accused of helping a man end his life because it has taken too long to file a complaint against the organization. Forsyth County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey S. Bagley signed an order last week directing Georgia to return $330,000 seized in February to the Final Exit Network and World Federation of Right to Die Societies. The state has until 6 November to file an appeal.
Tags: Assisted Suicide, Euthanasia, exit, Final Exit book, Final Exit Network, voluntary euthanasia
Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, Books, death, Derek Humphry, Euthanasia, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, right to die, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Suicide (rational) | No Comments »
How ‘right-to-die’ stands in 2009
Where voluntary euthanasia (VE) and/or physician-assisted suicide (PAS) is now legally permitted under guidelines:
1. Switzerland. Physician and non-physician assisted suicide since l940. VE banned.
2. Colombia. VE since l997.
3. Oregon. PAS since l998. VE banned.*
4. The Netherlands. VE and PAS. Since 2002.
5. Belgium. VE. Since 2002.
6. Luxembourg. VE and PAS. Since 2008.
7. Washington. PAS since 2009. VE banned.*
8. Montana. PAS. Since 2008. (Under court review.)
*Oregon and Washington states are the only places where the citizens voted for this law in an election.
+++++
Where PAS law reform is currently under active legislative or court consideration:
1. Canada. (Parliament Bill C-384) Continue Reading »
Tags: Assisted Suicide, assisted suicide laws, ERGO, Euthanasia, euthanasia and assisted death, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, hemlock society, Humphrey, Oregon law, terminal illness, Washington law
Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, Derek Humphry, Euthanasia, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, Hemlock, Politics/Law, right to die, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Suicide (rational) | No Comments »
‘Final Exit’ was honored by the American Library Associations Top 100 List of Banned Books as one of the most frequently challenged books in America for 1990 – 1999. It came in at # 29.
Ten years later, it remains on the list of most commonly-challenged books in the United States, according to the A L A
The only country in the world where ‘Final Exit‘ is outright banned is France, because of a l986 catch-all law forbidding all such books.
Tags: Assisted Suicide, Derek Humphry, Digital Edition, Dignitas, ERGO, Euthanasia, Final Exit Network, Helium Method, Jean's Way, Kevorkian, terminal illness
Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, Books, Derek Humphry, Euthanasia, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, Hemlock, Living Will, Publications/InternetMedia, right to die, RTD News, Self-Deliverance, Suicide (rational) | No Comments »
You can view a list of my books, from l972 through 2008, at this Amazon site:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B000AQ1V2K
Also, my memoir “Good Life, Good Death”
is now on Kindle or at the ERGO Bookstore
Tags: humphry, Jean's Way, Oregon law, Sunday Times
Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, Books, Derek Humphry, Euthanasia, Film/TV/Radio, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, Living Will, Opinion Pieces, People in the News, Politics/Law, Publications/InternetMedia, right to die, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Self-Deliverance, Suicide (rational) | No Comments »
Two popular initiatives, both dealing with assisted suicides, have gathered enough signatures to call for a vote in canton Zurich, Switzerland. No date has been scheduled for the votes.
The first calls for the canton to allow assistance but only for people who have been resident in the canton for at least a year. The second calls for the canton to insist on a change in Swiss federal law by banning all encouragement of and assistance to people committing suicide.
Tags: assisted death, Assisted Suicide, Dignitas, dignitas switzerland, physician assisted death, physician-assisted suicide, terminal illness
Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, death, Euthanasia, Mercy Killing, Politics/Law, right to die, RTD News, Suicide (rational) | No Comments »
U P D A T E
PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE FOR THE TERMINALLY OR HOPELESSLY ILL, COMPETENT, ADULT PERSON IN SWITZERLAND
— For information only
Physician-assisted suicide is legal in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Oregon, USA. In 2009 it also became law in Washington State and Luxembourg.
But, except for Switzerland, the laws confine the procedure to residents only, and under strict conditions. Switzerland alone allows foreigners to come for hastened death, provided it is altruistic, not profit-making nor of evil intent. Two right-to-die organizations (both called EXIT) in Switzerland help only their own members to die, but DIGNITAS will help foreign visitors to die in cases which they feel justified because of the terminal suffering. The person must be a competent adult.
The Dignitas operation is in Forch, near Zürich, Switzerland, and therefore operates under Swiss law, which, since 1940, has permitted assisted suicide, Continue Reading »
Tags: assisted death, Assisted Suicide, Dignitas, dignitas switzerland, Euthanasia, humphry, right to die, terminal illness
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) | 2 Comments »
You may care to look at my documents on the new internet publishing system called ‘Scribd’. A Living Will, history of Hemlock, student’s briefing, and so on. All free! Go to
http://www.scribd.com/FinalExit
—–Derek Humphry, Oregon
Tags: Assisted Suicide, Death With Dignity, Derek Humphry, Dignitas, euthanasia and assisted death, Final Exit Network, Hemlock, humphry, right to die
Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, Books, Derek Humphry, Euthanasia, Final Exit, Final Exit Network | No Comments »
Dr. Peter Baumann (74) of Zurich has been sentenced to a 4 yr prison term for premeditated murder. This was reported in Swiss newspapers in recent days.
Dr. Baumann’s case goes back to 2001 when he was charged with having abetted, aided and assisted in the suicide of a 47 yr old patient, who it was alleged suffered under a psychic illness.
The case after appeals was recently decided by the Swiss Supreme Court, which held that Dr Baumann did not sufficiently consider whether the patient’s desire to die was not really rooted in his mental condition and that therefore the patient may well not have been in a competent mental state.
Instead, Dr.Baumann, so the court held, acted on the basis of understanding, compassion and empathy, and that was felt to be inadequate in cases of this nature.
Derek Humphry comments: Sad, sad, sad.
Tags: Assisted Suicide, assisted suicide laws, Euthanasia, Final Exit, humphry, physician assisted death, right to die
Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, death, Derek Humphry, Euthanasia, People in the News, Politics/Law, right to die, RTD News, Self-Deliverance, Suicide (rational) | 1 Comment »
An important appeal from author Derek Humphry
The Final Exit Liberty Fund has been created to defend seven of the Final Exit Network’s volunteers from charges of assisting a suicide in Georgia and of manslaughter in Arizona. They have pleaded not guilty to all the allegations. All are senior citizens with unblemished records.
After you have read this page, I hope you will feel able to make an appropriate donation to the defense fund. (Non tax deductible.)
This is a case without precedent in America. It is hard to believe that this is happening in the land famed for freedom of speech, and where my book ‘Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying’ has been a huge seller for 18 years. Untold hundreds have used it to speed up their ends when their suffering became unbearable.
The Final Exit Network was established in 2004, a nonprofit corporation, with the mission of giving guidance – when asked – to people who cannot go on any longer Continue Reading »
Tags: Add new tag, Assisted Suicide, Death With Dignity, Final Exit Network, helium suicide, Hemlock, humphry, physician-assisted suicide, right to die, Self-Deliverance, terminal illness
Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, Books, death, Euthanasia, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, People in the News, Politics/Law, right to die, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Self-Deliverance, Suicide (rational) | No Comments »
« Newer Posts - Older Posts »
