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Wrong author makes no difference to ‘Final Exit’

Aug 6th, 2021 by

From the Final Exit Network newsletter, Vol. 20, # 3, Summer 2021:

A right-to-die icon spoke from the grave (kind of) and gave a living RTD icon a big
sales boost to a best-selling book, Final Exit.


Oscar-winning Nomadland (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress) includes a passing reference to
Derek Humphry’s ultimate DIY guide for self-deliverance.


At the 37-minute mark of the film, a person is having one
of many “slice of life”-type conversations with a new friend
who suddenly appears to be sick. The friend explains that she
has small-cell lung cancer, that it has metastasized to her brain,
and that her doctors have given her seven or eight months to live.
Then she says, “I have this book called Final Exit
by Dr. Kevorkian. Some people call him Dr. Death.
It’s like various ways that you can end your life if you
need to. It’s kind of like a recipe.”


It was a recipe for a run on the book. Suddenly,
sales of all versions doubled, then tripled – all due to a
surprise mention in Nomadland.
The paperback sold out, and Random House
reprinted it by July 1.


“It was not pleasing to have the most successful of
my 13 books attributed to someone else,” Humphry
mused. “But the reason appears to be that the book’s
title is better known than my name, while Dr. Kevorkian
remains famous for the 130 people he helped to die.”
(Kevorkian died in 2011.)


The author error made no difference because the
book title name is well known, thus easily found by
searchers. “It is rare for any book to be mentioned in
a movie, especially a book as controversial as this,”
Humphry said.


Final Exit has never stopped selling since it first
appeared in l991.  Back then, Humphry had to publish it himself,
under the imprint of the Hemlock Society.  To huge
surprise, it became a New York Times #1 best-seller,
remaining on that list for 18 weeks. There were 10
translations.  Sales have continued for 30 years (constantly
updated) as a paperback, ebook, Kindle and audio.

https://www.finalexit.org/ergo-store

 

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Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, Books, Derek Humphry, Dignitas, Dr. Kevorkian, Euthanasia, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, Publications/InternetMedia, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Self-Deliverance | No Comments »

Law reforms on assisted dying in UK close to reform

Aug 3rd, 2021 by 

Today marks the 60th anniversary of the Suicide Act in England - the law that 
criminalized assisted dying for terminally ill people. 

There are now Assisted Dying Bills coming in both the House of Lords and the Scottish
Parliament. On many occasions in the past such law reform has failed but  now public opinion has changed.

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Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, Derek Humphry, Dignitas, Dr. Kevorkian, Dutch euthanasia, Final Exit, Jean's Way, physician-assisted suicide, RTD News, Suicide (rational) | No Comments »

Dutch man accused of supplying death drug

Aug 1st, 2021 by

On  July  20, a 28-year-old man in the Netherlands was arrested for trafficking suicide powder. According to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, at least six suicides are linked to the man. The Justice Department suspects the drug was provided to hundreds of people. Research should show how many people actually took the drug and how many people died from it.

The criminal investigation started after the death of a woman in May 2021. A suspicious substance and data carriers were found with her, which led the investigation team to the 28-year-old man. An investigation was then launched into the question of whether the suspect provided the substance to more than one person. The suspect sold the drug from November 2018 to June 2021, justice says.

The suspect was a member of Coöperatie Laatste Wil (CLW): a Dutch Right to Die Society that advocates for self-determination when it comes to dying. “I understand that he acted in a peaceful manner,” says Jos van Wijk, chairman of CLW about the man.

“His trade shows that people want this stuff,” says Van Wijk. But he is disagreed with the way S. proceeded. „I do not think that anyone should simply function as a pick-up address.” Van Wijk believes that anyone who wants to die should be allowed to die. He believes it is important that people are properly instructed about safety use of the suicide drug, which is referred to as ‘agent X’ by, among others, CLW mentioned, and that conversations are held in advance with the person who has a death wish.

Derek Humphry adds note:  I believe the substance was sodium nitrite. Assisted dying in the Netherlands is only lawful when done by doctors.

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Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, Derek Humphry, Dignitas, Dr. Kevorkian, Dutch euthanasia, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, Kevorkian, physician-assisted suicide, RTD Organizations, Switzerland | No Comments »

Why people end their lives

Jul 27th, 2021 by

There is an interesting peer-reviewed research published in OMEGA-Journal = of Death and Dying. Click here (https://doi.org/10.1177/00302228211033368) = to read the article – “Why People Think They Might Hasten Their Death When= Faced with Irremediable Health Conditions Compared to Why They Actually Do= So.” (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00302228211033368)

This is an extract:

Since Derek Humphry’s best-selling book in 1991, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide, public opinion on terminally ill patients seeking a hastened death has moved from wildly controversial to enormous public support, including now the majority of physicians (Humphry, 1991; Kane, 2020).

After initial concerns about potential harmful consequences for vulnerable populations proved unfounded (Lindsay, 2009; Albaladejo, 2019), more and more countries and states are passing legislation to support the public’s interest in being able to have control over the manner and timing of their own death when faced with irremediable health conditions.

Final Exit Network (FEN) is one of the organizations in the United States, alongside ten (and growing) state approved medical-aid-in-dying options, and other domestic and international groups and countries, that support end of life options. Examples of these organizations include Compassion and Choices, Death with Dignity, Dignitas, Exit International, and the World Federation of Right to Die Societies.

These programs continue to grow in number and provide resources for those seeking information about how to achieve a peaceful death rather than a drawn-out process of increasing frailty, violent gun options, or loss of quality of life and autonomy due to health conditions over which they otherwise have little or no control (Bellamy, 2017). Seniors ages 85 and older had the second-highest suicide rate in the United States in 2018, and firearms were used in 70.0% of them among seniors aged 65 and older (America’sHealthRankings, 2021; Mertens & Sorenson, 2012).

State-sponsored physician-aid-in-dying programs and informational organizations like the ones we have mentioned above aim to offer elders and others with intractable health conditions peaceful options when it comes to controlling their deaths. (end extract)

Updated ‘Final Exit’ paperback and ebook now at

https://www.finalexit.org/ergo-store

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Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, Death With Dignity Act, Derek Humphry, Dignitas, Dr. Kevorkian, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, Kevorkian, physician-assisted suicide, right to die, RTD Organizations, Suicide (rational) | No Comments »

Review of important new book on the the right to a chosen death

Jul 23rd, 2021 by

The Los Angeles Review of Books examined Katie Englehart’s new book “THE INEVITABLE”

Here is an extract; the entire review is worth reading

The Dignified Exit

July 23, 2021   •   By Elena Saavedra Buckle

Opponents of assisted death have long argued that the practice will fall down a slippery slope of exploitation. Poor patients and the elderly, critics say, will feel pressured to die rather than rack up medical costs for their families. People with depression will choose it over trying more treatments. Historically, voluntary euthanasia and eugenics attract similar supporters, and today, some disability rights groups warn that the practices are “fatally tangled.” (One doctor Engelhart speaks with wants to create machines that can provide assisted death more easily than drugs; he sheepishly describes one of his coffin-like prototypes as “a little Auschwitzy.”) So far, though, there is no evidence from Oregon or other states that the laws have caused disproportionate deaths in any demographics. In fact, the opposite might be true. Engelhart spoke to doctors who knew of patients who qualified under the laws, and who wanted to die, but who could not afford the drugs. “Poor patients sometimes had to live,” she writes, “while richer patients got to die.”  (end extract)

Read the entire review at

https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-dignified-exit/

 

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Posted in Assisted dying, Books, Death With Dignity Act, Derek Humphry, Dignitas, Dr. Kevorkian, Euthanasia, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, Kevorkian, Oregon law, physician-assisted suicide, right to die, Self-Deliverance, Switzerland | No Comments »

New French movie deals with euthanasia problems

Jul 20th, 2021 by

This looks like an interesting movie:

CANNES, France, July 8 (Reuters) – French movie director Francois Ozon tackles the thorny issue of euthanasia in his latest movie at the Cannes Film Festival, with a story of two sisters grappling with their sick father’s desire to end his life.

In “Everything Went Fine”, Ozon does not take sides in the debate, preferring to let the siblings’ struggle unfold and leave audiences to ponder what they would do in their situation.

“I don’t think the film is either for or against (euthanasia). It proposes to the viewers a story that is very personal, and each one faces his or her own questions about it, on life, on death,” Ozon told reporters in Cannes on Thursday.

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Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, Derek Humphry, Dignitas, Dr. Kevorkian, Euthanasia, Film/TV/Radio, Final Exit, right to die, Switzerland | No Comments »

Great progress in medical assisted dying laws

Jul 1st, 2021 by

Today is a special day: in Western Australia the Voluntary Aid in Dying Act (that is ratified in 2019) has come info force. Earlier this month, the new established laws in Spain and New Mexico came into effect.

Other good news also comes from Australia: the South Australian VAD bill is amended, approved and ratified. South Australia is now the fourth Australian state where voluntary assisted dying will be legal (after Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania).

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Posted in Assisted dying, Death With Dignity Act, Derek Humphry, Dignitas, Dutch euthanasia, Euthanasia, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, physician-assisted suicide, right to die, RTD News | No Comments »

‘Final Exit’ book back in print after movie surprise

Jun 16th, 2021 by

Book back again

Because ‘Final Exit’ is mentioned in the new movie NOMADLAND, there’s been huge, unexpected demand and we  ran out of the paperback.!

A new printing has arrived.  We dispatched back  ordered copies on 16 June, USPS.  They should reach  around 6.19 to 6.24, depending on destination.  —– Derek Humphry, author, Oregon

All ERGO literature at

https://www.finalexit.org/ergo-store

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Posted in Final Exit, Final Exit Network, Living Will, right to die, RTD News, Self-Deliverance | No Comments »

More progress on choices in dying

Jun 16th, 2021 by

From June 18, 2021,  New Mexico residents will have access to ALL end-of-life options including medical aid in dying. That’s the 11th US state.

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Dr. Kevorkian died 10 years ago

Jun 2nd, 2021 by

June 3 is the tenth anniversary of the death of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, still a household name to many. At their request he helped130 people to die.

Beginning in June 1990, Kevorkian helped Alzheimer’s patient and Hemlock Society member Janet Adkins to die, using his Mercitron machine.

Kevorkian, despite three trials ending in acquittals, continued his version of physician-assisted suicide, first using this device which required barbiturates and, after losing his license, developing a patient-assisted mechanism to use carbon monoxide.

In 1997 he provided a lethal injection to Tom Youk, dying of ALS. The video of this was provided to Mike Wallace and shown to 60 million people on TV in November. Kevorkian insisted that he had to be charged with murder so that this issue could be decided by the Supreme Court.

He was charged and acted as his own legal counsel in March, 1998, at his trial where he was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to 10 to 25 years .  He was eligible for parole in 2007 and served two years on parole.  His appeal  did not reach the US Supreme Court.

Kevorkian died in hospital of natural causes  on 3 June 2011, aged 83.   Curiously, his name is currently public because he is named in the new movie NOMADLAND as the author of the guide book ‘Final Exit’.  This is a mistake: the author Is Derek Humphry; both are famous names in the right-to-die field, thus the confusion.

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Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, Books, Derek Humphry, Dr. Kevorkian, Final Exit, Hemlock, Kevorkian, physician-assisted suicide | No Comments »

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