For legal reasons, I cannot give advice on many questions that subscribers pose except for that information already contained in my book ‘Final Exit’ 3rd edition, and its 2009 Addendum, which are protected under the 1st Amendment right to free speech and subsequent court decisions on books.
Seven people in America are currently under arrest for alleged ‘assisted suicides’ and will face trials in 2010 in Georgia and Arizona. A detective pretending to be terminally ill was used as a decoy to entrap volunteers. Using data from seized computers, police and FBI across America are currently calling at the homes of people who wanted to be members of the ‘Final Exit Network’, a publicly-known, nonprofit, right-to-die group started in 2004.
The internet is being kept under close watch by law enforcement to find more victims to back up their dubious prosecutions in Georgia and Arizona. Thus this is a time to be extra cautious and discreet. At trial, the defendants will be rigorously defended.
This harassment is most likely a right-wing backlash to our movement’s law reform successes in Oregon, Washington and Montana. We shall proceed.
-Derek Humphry
Journalist & author
Posted in Assisted Suicide, death, Events/Conferences, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, Opinion Pieces, People in the News, Politics/Law, right to die, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Self-Deliverance, Suicide (rational), Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Police in Middlebury, Connecticut, say the death of an elderly woman last year, which was originally ruled to be natural causes, could be connected to the Final
Exit Network, a right-to-die organization.
Police received a tip from police in Georgia that led investigators to obtain a search warrant for an Old Saybrook home where they took computers and other documents for analysis. Police are not releasing the woman’s name.
Police said no charges have been filed and the investigation could take several weeks to several months to conclude.
In February, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation arrested three men and a woman in connection with the Final Exit Network. The group has helped about 200 sick people end their lives since 2004.
Tags: Final Exit, Final Exit Network, physician-assisted suicide, right to die, Self-Deliverance, terminal illness
Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, 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 »
A Dutch court sentenced the chairman of an assisted suicide lobby group on 29 May to 10 months in jail, eight suspended, for helping a sick, 80-year-old woman kill herself.
The woman died in November 2007 after taking a lethal dose of pentobarbital, which prosecutors said was supplied to her children by the lobbyist after doctors refused to help her. Her children helped administer the drug, but were not charged.
The lobbyist, who is not named in court documents, was found guilty of having contravened Dutch euthanasia rules, which determine that only a doctor may perform such acts.
Tags: Assisted Suicide, assisted suicide laws, physician-assisted suicide, terminal illness
Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, Euthanasia, Politics/Law, right to die, RTD News, Suicide (rational) | No Comments »
Last year the number of euthanasia cases registered [in Holland] went up by ten percent compared to 2007. The five regional euthanasia vetting committees say in their annual report that 2,300 cases were reported. They are expecting a further increase in the current year.
According to the committees the rise is due to a new law on euthanasia which was introduced in 2002, which made a clearer distinction between several kinds of treatment. The difference between palliative sedation – administering pain killers but not actively bringing about the death of the patient – and actual euthanasia has been made clearer.
It is thought that the more strict definitions cause doctors to report euthanasia more often, instead of reporting the use palliative sedation.
Tags: euthanasia and assisted death, Mexico, right to die, Self-Deliverance
Posted in Assisted Suicide | No Comments »
The Associated Press newsagency reported on 22 May 2009:
Man ordered held in assisted suicide case
By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer
McALLEN, Texas (AP) — A Las Vegas man was ordered held without bond Friday for allegedly trying to smuggle the same type of animal tranquilizers into the country that authorities say may have been used hours before to help an Oregon woman commit suicide in a Mexican motel.
U.S. Magistrate Peter Ormsby said Jeff George Ostfeld was a danger to the community and would be held until his trial on drug-smuggling charges that carry up to a 20-year sentence.
Ostfeld was arrested Monday at the Progreso Continue Reading »
Tags: euthanasia and assisted death, Mexico, right to die, Self-Deliverance
Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, death, Euthanasia, People in the News, Politics/Law, right to die, RTD News, Self-Deliverance, Suicide (rational) | No Comments »
As regional coordinator of the Final Exit Network, I have had reports of members being harassed by local police in response to a directive by the Georgia State police. It seems the GSPD contacts the targeted State police (in one case NJ) , who in turn contacts local police departments, with the directive to visit members and determine “if they are still alive”. (This is actually the reason people have been given.)
They have also been told the reason for the contact was related to accessing the Network’s web site. The local police have stated they find all this ridiculous, but “we have to do what we are told.”
If the GBI and GSPD are actually interested in whether or not selected FEN members are alive or dead they would save time and tax payers money by searching death certificates on line. The obvious intent here is to intimidate members, many of whom are elderly and ill in an attempt to frighten them.
This smacks of blatant harassment and is unconscionable. I am interested in determining how many other members of the Final Exit Network have been harassed by the police. If anyone has awareness of these incidences I can be reached by e-mail at franschindler68@yahoo.com . We have done nothing illegal and neither have any of our members.
We will not be intimidated
Fran Schindler,
Regional Coordinator,
Final Exit Network
Tags: choice in dying, Derek Humphry, Final Exit Network, Self-Deliverance, terminal illness
Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, death, Euthanasia, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, People in the News, Politics/Law, right to die, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Self-Deliverance, Suicide (rational) | 1 Comment »
Police Use Totalitarian Tactics to Shut Down Non-Profit
— press release
May 15, 2009
PHOENIX, Ariz. – Three more senior citizen volunteers from Final Exit Network, Inc., an organization of right-to-die activists, have been indicted in a widening effort by a small handful of local authorities to shut down the nationwide not-for-profit corporation’s advocacy program.
“These indictments are nothing but a publicity stunt by an activist right-to-life prosecutor with little respect for the law,” said Final Exit Network president Jerry Dincin, of Highland Park, Illinois.
“The defense costs will temporarily divert all of Final Exit Network’s resources, but we will emerge stronger than ever after we prove that these bogus charges cannot be prosecuted successfully in front of a jury of our peers.”
Two FEN “exit guides” who provide information and emotional support for persons who wish to terminate intolerable suffering, were indicted on a charge of “manslaughter” in Phoenix for counseling for providing information and emotional support to Jana Van Voorhis before she died in the Phoenix area in 2007.
The two FEN exit guides, Wye Hale-Rowe and Frank Langsner, were indicted
this week by a Maricopa County grand jury on charges of manslaughter and conspiracy to commit manslaughter. FEN regional coordinator Roberta Massey and the FEN’s medical director, Dr. Lawrence Egbert of Baltimore, were charged with being a part of the “conspiracy” in connection with Van Voorhis’s suicide.
All the defendants were Continue Reading »
Tags: choice in dying, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, Helium Method, right to die, Self-Deliverance
Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, death, Euthanasia, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, People in the News, Politics/Law, right to die, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Self-Deliverance | No Comments »
There has been a lot of talk recently of getting from Mexico bottles of veterinary Nembutal for self-deliverance.
Some reports claim one bottle is enough. True, one bottle of veterinary Nembutal (6 gms) will end the life of a frail, elderly person already close to death, but a physically strong person, healthy in all ways except their terminal illness (for instance, brain cancer) it is necessary for the person wishing be certain to die to drink two bottles of it (12 gms).
I base this on case reports reaching me from around the world. Support for the two bottle method comes also from the customary dose of Nembutal used in the Oregon law as being 9 gms, while Dignitas in Switzerland prescribes 12 gms. I have heard of delays or failure by some using the one-only bottle strategy.
Also, getting vet.Nembutal over the Internet is not easy, plus the price rises from the average of $30 per bottle in a Mexican store to as much as $800 each via an intermediary.
Caveat emptor.
While it may sound convenient visiting a Mexican border town, it is wiser to go to an inland city where life is calmer.
— D H
Tags: Assisted Suicide, Dignitas, euthanasia and assisted death, humphry, Mexico, terminal illness
Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, death, Euthanasia, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, right to die, RTD News, Self-Deliverance, Suicide (rational) | 100 Comments »
Some of us in America are fascinated by the British reaction to Dr. Philip Nitschke’s current tour of Britain. I write as a citizen of the UK and USA and a ‘right to die’ watcher for 30 years.
The British public is fed up with its government’s refusal to modify the laws on assisted suicide. Public opinion polls have consistently shown that 80 percent of the public wants change. The dour Prime Minister Brown says he won’t let law reform happen.
Since 1936 there have been eight attempts to get the UK Parliament to change the law. All have been soundly defeated. What sort of Continue Reading »
Tags: Assisted Suicide, assisted suicide laws, Derek Humphry, Helium Method, Philip Nitschke, physician-assisted suicide, right to die, terminal illness
Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, Books, death, Euthanasia, Events/Conferences, Final Exit, Opinion Pieces, People in the News, Politics/Law, right to die, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Self-Deliverance, Suicide (rational) | No Comments »
There is a significant and fascinating article in the ‘Philadelphia Inquirer’ of 1 May which is a lengthy article that begins…
A year ago, when a doctor finally diagnosed the brain disease that had been making it harder for her to walk without falling, Rona Zelniker told her son and daughter that she was going to end her life while she still could, before complete disability set in.
Her children were grateful for the way she prepared them, and for the time they had together at the end. “I must have cried 150 times in the last year,” said Keith Zelniker, 32, her son. He scheduled off the week she was planning to die, writing on his work calendar, “bereavement time.”
Zelniker felt anxiety about how she would end her life. She didn’t want to swallow pills, only to wake up even worse off, with brain damage. A gun was out of the question.
Last fall, she contacted an organization she had found on the Internet – the Final Exit Network – which she described in a letter as “the answer to my prayers.”…
Full article at
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20090501_Debating_an_end-of-life_decision.html
Tags: Add new tag, Assisted Suicide, Final Exit Network, Helium Method, helium suicide, right to die, Self-Deliverance, terminal illness
Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, death, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, People in the News, Politics/Law, right to die, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Self-Deliverance, Suicide (rational) | 3 Comments »
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