Colleagues and friends:
Please help us fund an effective defense for the accused Georgia Four by making a contribution to the legal defense fund: www.finalexitlibertyfund.org
Pass this site address to all your friends. Use PayPal or Google Checkout. Or wire or snail mail donations. (Email me for bank wiring directions for substantial sums).
Each accused has to have their own lawyer. If we are to change the law on assisted suicide by winning this court case, it will be hugely expensive. (Contributions cannot be tax deductible.)
ERGO (Euthanasia Research & Guidance Organization) has already made the first contribution of $5,000 to the defense fund. Send checks to ERGO’s mailing address:
Final Exit Liberty Fund c/o ERGO
24829 Norris Lane
Junction City OR 97448
The defendants are Ted Goodwin, Dr Larry Egbert, Claire Blehr and Nicholas Sheridan, all part of the Final Exit Network organization. Ted is also vice-president of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies. Further details are on the web site.
— Derek Humphry, Oregon
Organizer with fellow directors of the defence fund.
Final Exit Liberty Fund
www.finalexit.org
Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, Books, Dead, death, Euthanasia, Final Exit, Hemlock, People in the News, Politics/Law, Publications/InternetMedia, right to die, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Self-Deliverance, Suicide (rational) | No Comments »
Statement issued 2 March 2009:
The Board of the World Federation of Right-to-Die Societies is very concerned by the recent arrest in Georgia of its Vice Chairman, Ted Goodwin, and others. Many of us have known Ted for several years and regard him as a most compassionate individual.
Regarding the possible reasons for his arrest, we want to stress that desperate terminally-ill individuals and those suffering greatly from incurable chronic illnesses often look for a peaceful death when their suffering is more than they can bear. This is already legally possible in Oregon and Washington State, in the USA; and in Europe, in Belgium, The Netherlands, Switzerland, and soon in Luxembourg. In the absence of rational laws, organizations such as Final Exit Network sometimes may get close to the line in challenging the law, as perceived by opponents of the right to choose.
The Board of the World Federation of Right-to-Die Societies supports legal change so that those who are terminally-ill, or suffering greatly from incurable chronic illnesses, can obtain a legitimate way to achieve a dignified, humane death.
Tags: Assisted Suicide, Georgia Four, right to die
Posted in Assisted Suicide | 1 Comment »
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS reported 27 Feb 09:
ATLANTA (AP) — Members of an assisted suicide ring say they’ve done nothing wrong and seem eager for a court battle over criminal charges they helped a Georgia man kill himself, while their supporters are using the case as a rallying cry for more debate about end-of-life issues.
Four members of the Final Exit Network were arrested Wednesday on charges they violated Georgia’s assisted suicide laws by helping 58-year-old John Celmer use helium and an exit bag — a plastic hood with tubing attached — to suffocate himself.
Network president Thomas E. Goodwin and member Claire Blehr, both arrested in metro Atlanta, were released from jail late Thursday. Goodwin’s attorney, Cynthia Counts, said she was confident her client ”will be vindicated.”
In Baltimore on Friday, Dr. Lawrence D. Egbert and Nicholas Alex Sheridan smiled and waved to supporters before asking a judge to release them on bond so they could travel to Georgia to face charges. The judge later agreed to release and their Continue Reading »
Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, Books, Dead, death, Euthanasia, Final Exit, People in the News, Politics/Law, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Self-Deliverance, Suicide (rational) | 6 Comments »
Statement by the Board of the Euthanasia Research and Guidance Organization (ERGO)
ERGO is surprised and shocked by the arrests on 25 February 2009 of four members of the Final Exit Network for alleged assisted suicide. It is even more surprising that charges under the Rico laws for racketeering are involved. The Network is a membership organization and only provides services to its members. There are more than 3000 members all of whom pay $50/year. There is NO charge for the services provided. Dues and contributions are the only sources of income.
The laws relating to assisted suicide in America are a hodge-podge of ancient legal snippets with no relationship to the real world of dying in these modern times. How can it remain the case that physician-assisted suicide is legal in Oregon, Washington and Montana but other states still punish it as a felony or misdemeanor?
Bills which would legalize the practice are currently before the legislators of New Hampshire, Hawaii and New Mexico.
The man whom the Final Exit Network helped last year suffered from cancer of the throat and mouth. Had he been fortunate enough to live in Oregon he could have requested legal assisted dying from his doctor.
ERGO hopes this case will be fought through the courts and become the much needed test case to clarify America’s pot-pourri of laws on assisted suicide.
— Derek Humphry, president, ERGO
02.26.09 www.finalexit.org
Tags: Final Exit, Final Exit Network, Hemlock, humphry
Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, Final Exit, Publications/InternetMedia, RTD News, RTD Organizations | No Comments »
Times of London columnist Libby Purves made this pithy comment 2.20.09:
‘The Swiss have, in their bland and unemphatic way, driven a coach and horses through law, custom and ethical debate in post-Christian Britain. Since 1998 Dignitas, with its unique willingness to accept foreign “membersâ€, has made it hard to hold the line against assisted suicide. The Court of Appeal’s decision now makes it clear that even if a prosecution were to be brought against Debbie Purdy’s husband, a penalty is unlikely.’
Tags: Assisted Suicide, eBook, Euthanasia, helium, Mexico, Self-Deliverance
Posted in Assisted Suicide, Politics/Law, right to die | No Comments »
Debbie Purdy, 45, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, wanted to know if her husband, the Cuban violinist Omar Puente, would be prosecuted if he helped her travel to die in a country where it is legal. Under British law, aiding and abetting suicide is a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
But the appeal judges rejected Purdy’s claim that lack of proper guidance infringed her Article 8 right to private and family life under the European convention on human rights.
They said that there was “ample material” already available to enable her legal advisers to assess how likely a prosecution might be – and said that a court would most likely take the view that a prison sentence would be inappropriate punishment for the crime.
Tags: Assisted Suicide, eBook, Euthanasia, helium, Mexico, Self-Deliverance
Posted in Assisted Suicide, Politics/Law, right to die | No Comments »
The Manchester Evening News UK reported on 16 Feb 09:
Coroner calls for ban on suicide manual
Exclusive: John Scheerhout and Stan Miller
A CORONER has called for a ban a suicide manual used by a Manchester club boss to kill himself. Nigel Meadows has written to the Home Secretary expressing concern about the book.
He called for ministers to ban the book along with websites that show people how to take their own lives. The book, which the M.E.N. has chosen not to name, has been published in America since 1991 and its latest edition can be ordered through the post for around £11. Paul Benson, who owned Aqua bar in the city, used the book to set up a ‘sophisticated’ method of killing himself, an inquest into his death heard.
He had a history of depression and was receiving psychiatric treatment. However, he was not terminally ill.
The author of the book has defended it Continue Reading »
Tags: Add new tag, suicide
Posted in Books, death, Final Exit, People in the News, Politics/Law, Publications/InternetMedia, Uncategorized | No Comments »
The controversy over the right to die of Eluana Englaro is really a battle over religious beliefs and secondarily about the law of Italy.
This case is being used as a football in a struggle for moral power by the Vatican over the rules of life and death.
All over the world, people nowadays want the individual right to choices in their dying. Switzerland has had such a law since 1940, Holland and Belgium since 2002, Luxembourg since 2008. In Catholic Colombia the courts have legalized euthanasia, although the Senate has not.
In America the states of Oregon (1994) and Washington (2009) have death with dignity laws, and Montana looks like following suit shortly.
Other countries, notably New Zealand, Australia, Spain and Britain, are debating law reform seriously. It will happen there in the not too distant future.
The Eluana Englaro affair is a last desperate attempt by the Vatican to hold the line against nations who are progressing toward the ultimate civil liberty — the right to choose to die in your own manner.
–Derek Humphry
Tags: Add new tag, Euthanasia, euthanasia and assisted death, Living Wills, right to die
Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, death, Euthanasia, Final Exit, Opinion Pieces, People in the News, Politics/Law, Schiavo | No Comments »
For me, one of the most remarkable sentences in Barack Obama’s splendid inauguration speech on 20 Jan 09 was this:
“For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus – and non-believers.”
It is the first time I’ve ever noticed a religious politician acknowledge publicly that there are such beings as non-believers. I make this comment because it has always appeared to me that the right-to-die movement is largely made up of atheists, agnostics and sceptics, along with unaffiliated believers.
As Newsweek magazine (26 Jan 09) pointed out in connection with extensive polling by Pew Research which shows America swinging to the left, “…it’s clear that the country is growing more tolerant on social issues, largely due to changing attitudes among younger voters.”
In the next few years I for one expect to see choice in dying law reform in states other than what we have already in Oregon and Washington.
—Derek Humphry, Oregon
Tags: Add new tag, Barack Obama, Non-believers
Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, Euthanasia, People in the News, right to die, RTD News, Self-Deliverance, Suicide (rational) | No Comments »
Following Australia’s censorship ban on anything to do with euthanasia or assisted suicide appearing on the internet, I guessed that it was only a matter of time before a similar clamp-down would be tried elsewhere. Britain now appears to be the next target of the extreme right wingers. Prime Minister Brown has also spoken out AGAINST reforming the laws on assisted suicide.
Hopefully this will be successfully fought by civil libertarians in the UK.
ERGO’s web sites, blog and news list are meant to give hope and guidance to the terminally ill, or hopelessly physically ill, competent adult. If others choose to use this information then that is the price of free speech in a democratic world.
— Derek Humphry
Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, death, Final Exit, Hemlock, Opinion Pieces, Politics/Law, Publications/InternetMedia, right to die, RTD News | 1 Comment »
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