Choice in Dying – What Does it Mean?
As leaders of the “choice in dying movement,” Dr. Jack Kevorkian and Derek Humphry, author of “Final Exit” and founder of the Hemlock Society, would appear to be like minded. Both believe it is ethical to assist the terminally ill when they request euthanasia or assisted suicide. But as Mr. Humphry explained during an interview at Northbrae Community church in Berkeley last week, he and Dr. Kevorkian are very different.
As we sat in the church parlor before his address to the Hemlock Society, Humphry explained, “Jack Kevorkian has actually moved a step beyond assisted suicide. While it is no longer a crime to commit suicide in the English speaking world, it is a crime to request to be murdered and to murder. When Jack personally administered the lethal injection to the ALS patient, on 60 Minutes, he committed murder for all the world to witness. If the patient had injected himself or swallowed pills, it would have not been a murder but an assisted suicide.” While assisted suicide is still a crime, the punishment is not as steep — perhaps there are fines or some years in prison. Humphry believes Kevorkian was “guilty in law but morally innocent.”
Humphry would like the US to legalize and legitimize assisted suicide, also called “self-deliverance, aid in dying, physician assisted dying, hastened death, or auto-euthanasia.”
According to Humphry, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands allow assisted suicide for the terminally ill as long as legally mandated protocols are followed. In the US, the state of Oregon passed (in 1994), by citizen’s ballot measure, a physician assisted suicide law for the terminally ill.
In an written essay for Humphry’s Euthanasia Research and Guidance Society (ERGO), Humphry elaborates, “there are 2 forms of suicide: One is an emotional or irrational self-murder for mental health or emotional reasons. We do not support this.” Humphry believes in “justifiable suicide” which is a rational and planned deliverance from a hopeless and painful disease.
And as Humphry explained to a protest group of the disabled called “Not Dead Yet,” he does not support in any way assisting someone to die just because he or she is disabled. And he does not devalue the lives of the disabled.
He believes self deliverance (his preferred term) is appropriate when:
- Advanced terminal illness causes unbearable suffering
- Two doctors say the patient has only 6 months to live and that quality of life will severely impaired by unbearable pain and suffering.
- The person is a mature adult and has made a “considered and informed decision documented in a living will”
- Medical help has been sought to slow or cure the disease
- The patient does not involve others in criminal liability or leave them with guilty feelings
Humphry also supports strongly Hospice programs that comfort the dying and provide anti-pain medications. He believes there is no conflict between Hospice and euthanasia. For example, if a hospice patient’s pain is too severe and the patient does not wish to live his last few days in a drugged stupor, assisted suicide would be the next step and appropriate.
Humphry beliefs grew out of watching his wife, Jean, suffer from incurable cancer and her requests for assistance. He has written about this in his book, Jean’s Way.
RESOURCES:
To Purchase books: Jean’s Way, The Right to Die, Final Exit: www.finalexit.org or (541) 998-1873Compassion in Dying: www.compassionindying.org (503) 221-9556
Hemlock Society: www.hemlock.org (415) 437-5779
Not Dead Yet: www.notdeadyet.org (708) 209-1500