On their website the testimonials from our clients section is empty?
ATLANTA --- Joining the Final Exit Network costs $50, and the privileges of membership include this: When you're ready to die, the organization will send two "exit guides" to show you how to suffocate yourself using helium tanks and a plastic hood.
The Georgia-based organization says it is providing an invaluable and humane service. Authorities call it a crime.
Four members of the Final Exit Network, including its president, were arrested Wednesday and charged with assisted suicide in the death of 58-year-old John Celmer last June at his home near Atlanta. Investigators said the organization might have been involved in as many as 200 other deaths across the country.
"The law is very clear, and they clearly violated it," said Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokesman John Bankhead.
The arrests came after an eight-month investigation in which an agent posing as someone bent on suicide infiltrated the Final Exit Network, which bases its work on The Final Exit, a best-selling suicide manual by British author Derek Humphry.
Members of the Final Exit Network are instructed to buy two new helium tanks and a hood, known as an "exit bag," according to the GBI. In court papers, investigators said the organization recommends helium because it is undetectable during an autopsy.
The group's members bristle at the term assisted suicide, saying they don't actively aid suicides but rather support those who decide to end their lives.
"We're just there to help," said Jerry Dincin, the group's vice president, who was not arrested. "People insist upon it. They want to do what they want to do. They're suffering, and if they have intolerable pain, then they want to sometimes get out of that intolerable pain."
Mr. Celmer did not appear to be seriously ill. Though his mother said he had suffered for years from throat and mouth cancer, court documents quoted his doctor as saying he had made a "remarkable recovery" and was cancer-free at the time of his suicide. Authorities said he might have been embarrassed about his appearance after jaw surgery.
Also, his doctor told investigators that Mr. Celmer was in pain because of arthritis, but that it could have been lessened if he had taken his medication properly and stopped drinking and smoking.
Georgia authorities arrested the group's president, Thomas E. Goodwin, and member Claire Blehr. Maryland authorities arrested the organization's medical director, Dr. Lawrence D. Egbert, 81, and Nicholas Alec Sheridan, a regional coordinator. They could get up to five years in prison on the assisted-suicide charges.
The Final Exit Network was founded in 2004 and claims 3,000 members, donors and volunteers nationwide.
Members said the group has clear policies requiring applicants to supply medical diagnoses. They are also encouraged to seek advice from a spiritual adviser, a psychiatrist and medical experts. The group's Web site said those it helps must have an incurable condition that causes intolerable suffering, and they must be alert, aware and strong enough to perform the tasks required to kill themselves.
Comments
On their website the testimonials from our clients section is empty?
That's because hell cannot afford any computers!!
If they can prove it, surly they will be charged with all 200 deaths?
What is wrong with this? At least if someone decides to end their life their body won't be left decomposing for days before someone, anyone, notices they are gone. If a person wants to die they should have the right to make that choice and no one wants to die alone.
There is only one person that gives life and can take it away!!.. Not us!!
helium?? so they sound like Mickey Mouse on their way to the next world??
Nothing is wrong w/ that, Peonynut. Everyone has the right to end his own life if he so chooses. Whatever judgment results is between that person and God. This is another intrusion of government into the private lives of citizens. These people are guilty of nothing more than compassion.
What a wonderfully witty and intelligent comment, Dukedirtbag.
similar to the persicution of Dr Kavorkian..., The individual should be allowed to make this determination,similar to a DNR, the individual is the one that should determine His/her own Quality of life standards
..."the individual is the one that should determine His/her own Quality of life standards" Good point, Duke... I thoroughly agree.
It infuriates me that the government has made assisted suicide illegal. If someone has such a poor quality of life due to illness and pain that they want to die then who is the government to stop them? The government is trying to play God with this law. I would love for those opposed to assisted suicide to experience severe and chronic pain from cancer or any other illness for just a few weeks. I'll bet they would change their tune then. LEAVE THIS GROUP THE HELL ALONE. They are doing a great service for those who are suffering. If I didn't have a small child to raise I would join this group myself.
I was once listening to a Christian radio station and I heard the most unbelievable thing. I forget the woman's name who was doing the broadcast, but she said, and I quote, "If you are considering ending your life, it may be the best thing to do". I kid you not. There are people who suffer agonizing pain due to illness in the endstages of their life,and I think it is horrible for this suffering to be prolonged. Suicide is certainly not a crime, so neither assisted suicide be. However, even with this view, I don't think I could personally help someone commit suicide.
Suffocation sounds distressful. I vote for a more gentle exit.
LadyCisback ...The lord is going to give you an asbestos body to burn in agony for eternity. Watch out. Pitiful fundamentalist. You never really had a chance.
How undetectable is helium during an autopsy when you are found dead with a bag over your head and with two empty helium bottles at your side? Doesn't take Quincy to crack that case.
With all the cop/forensic procedural shows littering the airwaves, you reach back to the 1970s and pull out a Quincy reference? Really?
My post, my reference upt2. :p
Hospice, provided in a medical setting is more acceptable to me. These people remind me of "Back alley abortions" of the past. No one should have the right to judge others wishes, the killing of healthy people against their will is another story. Thank the GBI for showing you the difference.
I think helium suffocation is much better than suicide bombings.
People have a right to die and to pay taxes, both evitviable. When a person is led to commit suicide per the: "Dying with Dignity Standard", that is different. Patients diagnosed having a terminal illness, are often euthanized by their own loved one (Spouse). Profit from a patients death, sudden will changes, and medically educated nurses to administer "Hospice at home" schemes, have led to many people "Dying of nothing" syndrome or "Hospice gone wrong" disorder. There should be safety points and laws to investigate, but the current laws prevent any investigations by law enforcement. The GBI was spot-on with this eye opening investigation, which will save many innocent lives. Thank you to the investigators for cracking open this case and wherever it takes them.
The Augusta Chronicle ©2012. All Rights Reserved.
