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F I N D I N G FINAL EXIT NETWORK Vol 18 • No 3 Summer 2019 IN THIS ISSUE • Board marks 15 years; honors Humphry Page 6 • Is ‘dignicide’ final word in ‘suicide’ debate? 8 • Is it time for DNR to RIP? 11 • Meet incoming President Brian Ruder 12 • Who qualifies for Exit Guide support? 13 • Letter calls out C&C; Maine, N.J. pass MAiD 15 F I N D I N G IN SOMETHING HOPELESS By Rev. Kevin Bradley, Board Member as “the feeling that what is wanted can be had.” am occasionally asked to talk with Final Most people who contact FEN would welcome a Exit Network clients or family members who spontaneous recovery from their illness, but that’s have questions about religion or spirituality. usually not what they’re hoping for when they talk to TheyI sometimes seek help in coming to terms with me. their faith tradition’s opposition to self-deliverance. Their hope may have a religious aspect, such as Usually, clients have already reconciled the the hope of an afterlife of some kind. There may be a apparent conflict for themselves, but a family certain amount of hope in knowing that the pain will member may be struggling to understand his or her end, or the anticipated pain will not happen, although decision and its consequences. pain relief is rarely the main reason they choose self- A few months ago, I had a conversation with a deliverance. relatively young man who was planning his exit and Much of life seems beyond our control, even was concerned for his mother. She was perhaps more when we are healthy. When facing an intolerable religious than he, but was supportive of quality of life, choosing the time and his decision and planned to be at his side manner of death gives us a sense of every step of the way. A few months later, control. That sense of autonomy is the she called me to express her gratitude and essence of hope. ask me about something her son had said When I was a hospice chaplain, I before his death. He told her that planning often advised my patients to plan their his own exit gave him hope. own funerals as a gift to their families. That didn’t make sense to her, because That advice was intended to prevent the whole reason for his self-deliverance family members from fighting about was that there was no hope of recovering “what Dad would have wanted.” from his illness. What “hope” was he It turned out that planning their own talking about? funerals also gave patients a renewed Hope is defined on Dictionary.com Rev. Kevin Bradley HOPE continued on page 2 Renew your membership online: www.finalexitnetwork.org FINAL NOT his WORD Still speaking out: Derek details birth of North American RTD movement By Derek Humphry, Chair, FEN Advisory Board n the last FEN magazine, I was described as the After lots of hesitant answers, I drew together “founder of the right-to-die movement.” Not a board of eight to form a California nonprofit quite! More accurately, I am the founder of the organization with IRS acceptance. “modern,I American right-to-die movement.” This was the time of bombings of abortion clinics, In 1979 – when I pondered starting a campaign Ronald Reagan came to power, and Jerry Falwell was to make self-deliverance at life’s end a well-informed in full cry from the far right. “You’ll be destroyed,” action, and also to legalize Medical Aid in Dying said the cynics, to which I replied: “I’ll be here when (MAiD) – there were already two established groups they’re long gone.” in America: Society for the Right to Die, and Concern Enduring For Dying. I sought their help but was turned away. People of good will often ask me why I’m still (The CEO of the second organization wrote that she fighting for this hot-button cause after 40 years? The hoped I’d fail.) Both groups confined their work to first answer is, of course, that it is a basic human promoting Advance Directives (aka Living Wills). liberty to have control over how one dies, if the final A few years later, they faded away, and I stages are painful and distressing. announced Hemlock Society USA in l980, meeting Such a noble cause, hitherto neglected, had strong with a mixture of support and scorn. My office was appeal to me. my garage in Santa Monica, and financing was the Secondly, at 50 years old, I was an experienced royalties of my new book, Jean’s Way. There was no investigative journalist and nonfiction book author, staffing for the first three years. accustomed to appearing on radio and television to debate issues like race relations, police corruption, HOPE continued from page 1 and terrorism. So, I knew what a cauldron I was getting into. sense of purpose, which made their last days more I had not intended Jean’s Way to be a enjoyable for everyone involved. campaigning book, but that is what it turned out Ironically, preparing for their deaths gave them a to be. Published in six languages, it gave me sound reason to live, even in their last days. They wouldn’t credentials as someone who had “been there.” live longer, but they could live more intentionally – (Although unintended as a pointer, Jean’s and that mattered. chosen manner of hastened death turned out to be I shared these reflections with the young man’s approximately the way the death-with-dignity laws in mother. She breathed a heavy sigh of relief, and then nine U.S. states are framed.) said, “That makes sense, and it sounds like him. The Being a leader of the right-to-die movement doctors even used that word – they said his condition enabled me to: 1) fight for reform in a field I sensed was hopeless. But they didn’t know my son. I can see was coming to the fore, as were abortion rights, that by planning everything about his last days, he gay rights, and same-sex marriage; and 2) use my had a sense of purpose. background as a writer and speaker to promote this “He found hope in something hopeless.” FINAL continued on next page 2 Final Exit Network Summer 2019 Newsletter custom ads for publications Julia Hanway – jack of and conferences, which were eye-catching and spread our all trades, master of each message; and she organized and oversaw the first-of-its kind By Janis Landis, Ex-FEN President Conference on Dying in the – Hanway is leaving FEN for other opportunities Americas, helping us network. That headline is what I found myself gratefully “She also put together the saying throughout my presidency. When Julia most informative, friendly, lively began working with FEN in 2014, I knew we had Julia Hanway and interesting conference of someone to fill in major gaps in our technology and the World Federation of Right to Die Societies,” said databases, but I had no idea she would build our new Faye Girsh. “Advocates global-wide came together in infrastructure and outreach in a transformative way. Chicago in 2014.” We had no efficient way to track and monitor Missing from Julia’s accomplishments are the membership payments. Julia developed a system that dedication, enthusiasm, and creativity she brought to not only did that, but was robust enough to answer all her work. She was a full partner in every aspect with kinds of queries while ensuring data protection. With our volunteers, the board, and FEN leadership. There wizard-like skill, she produced a newsletter that was was no job she couldn’t do, no workload too heavy, no glossy, full color, more informative – and cost less! deadline too short. She helped us: develop a highly effective speaker Julia’s most lasting gift may be this: She lets us program to reach groups around the country; produce move forward with confidence that we have 21st- century tools to keep fighting for death with dignity. FINAL continued from prior page vital but contentious issue. Cynics predicted that the suicide rate would Final Exit Shock rocket. Data showed a year later that it had not done I had co-authored two books on the history and so – plus, more suicides were less violent. philosophy of euthanasia (with modest sales) but hit an Final Exit still sells worldwide in updated editions unexpected controversy with my 1991 book Final Exit. after 29 years in print; up to two million copies in No publisher in U.S.A. or U.K. would touch it at first, hardback, paperback, and Ebook. Translated into 13 so I published it myself under Hemlock’s imprint. languages, it is extensively pirated on the internet. Initial sales were mostly to Hemlock members, All on Record but when the Wall Street Journal published an article For 20 years, the Allen Library at the University describing it as “a suicide guide,” the book instantly of Washington in Seattle has been building America’s climbed to the #1 bestselling nonfiction hardback in largest archive of right-to-die materials, including all America. No one was more astonished than me! documents, newsletters, and books from Hemlock. The first print edition sold 550,000 copies, Keep that in mind when doing serious research. earning Hemlock $1 million net of expenses. In My greatest personal reward from 40 years many bookstores, customers lined up in the morning involved in this movement has been meeting and to snatch the day’s deliveries – and Hemlock’s working with the finest, most selfless and generous membership rocketed.
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