Final Exit: The practicalities of self-deliverance and assisted suicide for the dying
By Derek Humphry
Australian edition prepared by Dr Helga Kuhse
Penguin Books, 222 pp. $18.95
Reviewed by Mario Giorgetti
After an extraordinary 18 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list in 1991, Final Exit received a cold reception from Australia's chief censor, who last March decided to ban it. However, in June the Australian Film and Literature Board of Review overturned the censor's decision and classified the book Restricted (category 1), which means it may be sold to persons 18 years or older. It is now on sale everywhere except Queensland.
Derek Humphry says his book is not intended for people contemplating suicide for just any reason, but specifically for those in the final stages of a terminal illness, degenerative disease or advanced physical deterioration who wish to end their suffering while still able to determine their own destiny.
The author is no stranger to euthanasia; he helped his cancer-stricken first wife to die in 1975, violating British law in the process. But he escaped prosecution because the authorities learned of her death only in 1978 with the publication of a biography, Jean's Way. Humphry was questioned by police, confessed and offered to plead guilty, but the public prosecutor decided not to bring charges against him.
Final Exit is Derek Humphry's latest outcome of more than a decade's work as a campaigner for auto-euthanasia for the terminally ill, and founder/director of the Hemlock Society in the USA. It follows several other books on the subject, including Let Me Die Before I Wake, The Right to Die and Dying with Dignity. In Derek Humphry's own words: "Final Exit is aimed at helping the public and the health professional achieve death with dignity for those who desire to plan for it."
The book does not try to unravel the moral and ethical tangle surrounding the question of rational suicide; rather it looks at the legal and medical dilemmas and presents a guide to achieving self-deliverance legally while causing the least possible distress to family and friends, and with minimal suffering using today's most effective drugs.