Derek Humphry, Final Exit: The practicalities of self-deliverance and assisted suicide for the dying, New York, Delta (Random House), 2002, 220 pages
The title of
this book is accurate. The book is about killing yourself if faced with a
terminal, painful disease. The book is a guide to the many details that need
attention, from making sure your death does not inadvertently involve loved
ones in a criminal investigation, to wearing a baseball cap so that the bill of
the cap will keep the plastic bag, which is over your head, from being drawn into your mouth
with each inhalation.
The author makes
sure the reader is suitable for suicide. Someone who is merely depressed,
for example, should seek counseling not suicide. Once the reader determines
that he is qualified for suicide, he can then follow the detailed guidelines
for one of the options available. For instance, if one's own physician will not
help by prescribing drugs, then the terminally ill person can purchase
sedatives, a plastic bag, and other equipment. The author provides a checklist.
The main point
of the book is that one must be prepared for a suicide that is both effective
and least unpleasant as possible under the circumstances.
The author
assumes the reader has no knowledge of chemistry and no experience with any of
the ethical and legal issues involved. However, readers can skim parts of the
short book. Not all parts apply to all readers, but they are all worth at least
a quick reading. At each subject change, the author usually provides a guide to the reader, explaining
each section's appropriateness for some readers but not for other readers.
For several
decades, Derek Humphry, the author, worked as a journalist in England and in
the USA. He helped found and manage euthanasia organizations. At 83, he now
lives in Oregon, the first state in the USA to legalize suicide for terminally
ill individuals. His books, which initially mainstream publishers would not accept,
have been commercial successes. He has assisted three suicides, in the cautious
manner he describes and recommends.
The chapters are
many and short. The titles are largely self-explanatory and arc from making the
decision to end one's life if medically doomed, to rejecting methods that are
too risky, and then to the "final act." A few chapter titles are:
Ch. 1: The Most
Difficult Decision
Ch. 2: Shopping
for the Right Doctor
Ch. 3: Beware of
the Law
Ch. 4: The Hospice
Option
Ch. 11: Who
Shall Know?
Ch. 16: Letters
to Be Written
Ch. 20: Storing
Drugs
Ch. 22:
Self-Deliverance Using a Plastic Bag
Ch. 23: A
Speedier Way: Inert Gases
Ch. 24: The
Checklist
Ch. 25: The
Final Act
Throughout these
and other chapters, the author writes clearly and succinctly, with only enough
repetition to make sure readers do not miss key points.
