Dear Inquirer 2009 Word

Dear Inquirer, Euthanasia Briefing Thank you for your inquiry seeking more information on the subject of voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide. As you have probably realized, this is a subject with considerable scope and complexity. It cannot be summed up in a note or an interview. As a well-known author in this particular field, see http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B000AQ1V2K, Consequently I get hundreds of inquiries such as yours. I just do not have the time to answer them all individually. I cannot give interviews. My own words are in the web essays and in my books, some of which can be downloaded at www.finalexit.org/ergo-store My five books on the subject are in libraries, or more cheaply at used bookstores under ‘Death and Dying.’ There is my updated Chronology of the Right to Die Movement from l906 to 2009 at this site in Australia: http://www.vesnsw.org.au/ves/index.php/index/Articles/an-international-timeline09 By the way, the Hemlock Society USA, which I founded and ran for its first 12 years, no longer exists. It was taken over by other organizations. It lasted 1980-2003. The story of its life and untimely death is told at www.assistedsuicide.org Incidentally, this year (2009) three original Hemlock chapters still exist – Hemlock Society of Florida, Hemlock of Illinois and Hemlock Society of San Diego Choices in dying is an important issue, so I will try in this briefing to provide clues enabling you to go in the right direction to give your project the best possible quality. DEFINITIONS: ‘Voluntary euthanasia’ means the patient choosing hastened death by lethal injection by a doctor (only legal in Holland and Belgium). “Assisted suicide’ means a doctor helping a person die by oral lethal prescribed overdose (legal in Oregon, Washington, Switzerland, Holland and Belgium.) Suicide (by whatever means and for whatever reasons) is no longer illegal in the secular democracies. Assisted suicide by people other than doctors is illegal everywhere, except Switzerland. The only states in the USA that allow physician-assisted suicide (since l994) are (l994) OREGON and (2009) Washington. The US Supreme Court reviewed the Oregon law and on January 17, 2006, declined by a vote of 6-3 the Bush administration’s demand to strike it down. Montana currently has physician-assisted suicide for the dying but it has still to be reviewed by high courts to test if it can remain in position. (May 2009) For the official reports on the Oregon Death With Dignity Act, visit 1

http://oregon.gov/DHS/ph/pas/ar-index.shtml In my view, it has worked well.

In November of 2008 there was a ballot initiative in Washington State asking citizens to pass a law similar to the one in Oregon permitting physician-assisted suicide for the dying (but not euthanasia. ) It passed 58-41 per cent and became effective in March of 2009 The Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium have legalized both voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, while Switzerland has permitted justifiable assisted suicide for 60 years. The British Parliament has recently been debating an assisted suicide law for the terminally ill, similar to Oregon’s, but in the final debate in the House of Lords the Bill was defeated. It was the 8th time since l935 that law reform on assisted suicide has been defeated in the UK parliament, despite the well-known fact that some 80 percent of Britons want such changes. First visit www.FinalExit.org/ and go step by step through the categories listed on the left on the first page. You might like to reproduce (because it has no copyright) the manifesto ‘Liberty and Death’ just issued at http://www.finalexit.org/liberty_and_death_manifesto_right_to_die.html On the same web page, there are links to movies about hastened deaths, essays by me on various aspects, and links to more books and news stories. Then click on www.assistedsuicide.org to see how the USA and countries all over the world have handled with their laws on hastened death. (This is probably the only such list in the world.) There are also essays there by me on the future of the right-to-die movement, and what happened to the Hemlock Society. You may quote from these provided the source is given. Dr. Jack Kevorkian, who had been in prison in Michigan since 1999 for the ‘murder’ of Thomas Youk who was terminal and wanted to die, was freed after nine years. Go to www.FinalExit.org/whoswho/ Kevorkian was released on parole on June 1, 2007, and he is banned from helping anyone else to die. If you are looking for statistical background on euthanasia, go to this good website: http://trinity.edu/MKEARL/dtheuth.html Now I know from experience that you want a personal statement from me to include in your project. So here’s a direct quote from me to you: 2

“The right to choose to die when terminally or hopelessly ill is to me the ultimate civil and personal liberty. People are not a free people unless they are able die according to, and at the time of, their selection. While suicide is no longer a crime anywhere, assisted suicide remains a felony everywhere except the U.S. States of Oregon, Washington, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland. This prohibition is legally and philosophically unacceptable. And if those particular states can allow it, under strict guidelines, why not the rest of the world?” “You may ask: why don’t people just kill themselves if that’s what they want? Answer: Here we are not talking about mentally ill people whose agonies drive them to seek death by gun or jumping; we are referring to dying or hopelessly ill people whose bodies are by now decimated and their strength and mobility limited. Anyway, they do not want a violent death -- they wish it to be gentle and most likely in the presence of their loved ones.” --Source of these quotes: private email to you from Derek Humphry (date as shown on email) To view the world scene on euthanasia, best to go to www.worldrtd.net Now I know you all want to get ‘instant information’ off the Internet. Well, I have lots of facts, figures and essays on the web, as you can see. But there are some excellent hardcopy books available on the subject. If you can’t afford them new, my books are widely available in used book stores or on the used book market on the web. Cost: a couple of dollars. To obtain my books via the web or download as an eBook, go to www.finalexit.org/ergo-store. Some can be downloaded at small cost. In April of 2007, the editors and books critics of USA TODAY newspaper selected ‘Final Exit’ as one of the 25 most memorable books of the last quarter century. Good luck with your project! Remember always to keep cool, balanced, and treat the facts on both sides of the argument fairly. Sincerely yours,

DEREK HUMPHRY (1930-)

President, Euthanasia Research & Guidance Organization (ERGO). Founder of the original Hemlock Society USA, l980-2003. October 2009 P.S. 3

At this web site, there is a manifesto concerning the basic principles of the right to choose to die. It is not copyright, and you may reproduce it in full for your project provided the source is properly attributed. Go to http://www.finalexit.org/liberty_and_death_manifesto_right_to_die.html Bibliography: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B000AQ1V2K

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