DEL.ICIO.USUpdated: 5:59 a.m. February 27, 2009
Assisted suicide group may have had role in 130 deaths
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thursday, February 26, 2009
The Cobb County-based Final Exit Network offered a methodical way to commit suicide by helium gas that quickly asphyxiated the victims and left no trace. As many as 130 deaths around the country may have been hastened by the group, according to a court document.
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John Bazemore / AP
This Cumming townhome (center) is where police say members of an assisted suicide ring known as the Final Exit Network helped cancer victim John Celmer, 58, to end his life.
ASSISTED SUICIDE
• For complete coverage and the latest news on the assisted-suicide cases and the Final Exit Network, go to ajc.com/suicide.Now investigators are trying to figure out how often members of the group simply witnessed the deaths versus taking an active part to end people’s lives — as they allegedly tried to do Wednesday in Dawson County.
An affidavit filed in the case Thursday revealed greater detail in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation sting operation that so far has resulted in the arrest of four people, two in Georgia and two in Maryland.
A leader of the Final Exit Network defended the group’s mission.
“We’re just there to help,” Jerry Dincin, a vice president of the group, told The Associated Press. He was not arrested. “People insist upon it. They want to do what they want to do. They’re suffering, and if they have intolerable pain, then they want to sometimes get out of that intolerable pain.”
Searches by GBI agents in seven states set in motion the potential reopening of scores of death investigations across the country.
The founder of the group, Thomas “Ted” Goodwin of Florida and Kennesaw, says he personally helped 35 people in the past four years commit suicide using helium, according to the affidavit. Though Goodwin is not a doctor, he owns a medical testing lab in Kennesaw, OHR/Medical Dimensions.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation arrested Goodwin, 63, Wednesday in Dawson County in North Georgia as he was taking a man, an undercover agent, through steps that would have led to the agent’s death.
Authorities said Final Exit instructs a person who wants to commit suicide to pump helium from a 50-balloon tank into a plastic bag pulled over his or her head. The person suffocates, but there’s no trace of helium left in the body to indicate a suicide.
Goodwin and an “exit guide” with the network, Claire Blehr, 76, of Atlanta, also arrested Wednesday, posted bonds of $66,000 each and were released just after 10 p.m. Thursday, said Forsyth County Sheriff’s Deputy Shana Cox.
Dr. Lawrence Egbert, 81, and Nicholas Alec Sheridan, 60, were arrested Wednesday in Baltimore and are still being held there.
All four are charged with assisting the suicide of John Celmer of Cumming, tampering with evidence, and violating the state RICO act. Celmer, 58, died June 20, 2008, of asphyxiation.
The group claims on its Web site an extensive, multi-state network with more than 3,000 members. GBI spokesman John Bankhead said the agency hopes the sting operation and investigation will “get the information out” so that authorities and families can re-examine suspicious deaths around the country.
The affidavit that was the basis for search warrants laid out the Final Exit Network’s requirements before it will facilitate a suicide. The court document also described how the GBI agent, going by the name Richard Sartain, asked the organization to help “hasten” his death.
Warren County, Ohio, prosecutor Rachel Hutzel said Thursday that GBI agents searched the Mason, Ohio, home of Judith Snyderman, 74, who is listed on the Final Exit Network’s Web site as one of the group’s board members.
Snyderman had talked to the undercover agent, Hutzel said. When the agent asked her what would happen if they “botched the job,” Snyderman told him, according to the affidavit: “You end up a vegetable.”
Staff writer Ben Smith contributed to this article.
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Comments
By Sarah4
Feb 27, 2009 12:21 PM | Link to this
Some of you seem to be missing a point. They were about to "assist" someone to die and they really knew nothing about his condition. Also, they would have held his hands down so that he would sufficate. Some of you have asked what the difference is in putting a pet to sleep and allowing people to be put to sleep. They are human beings, not animals. I think the animals are the ones assisting the suicide. I know that I am not suppose to pass judgment, but what else is a blog for? The problem won't be solved here.
By ThrowAwayTheKey
Feb 27, 2009 12:00 PM | Link to this
Maybe it's just me, but the idea of dying with a helium-filled plastic bag over my head doesn't strike me as very dignifying (not to mention having to hide it from my loved ones in order to carry it out). I would certainly not pass judgment on the poor victims of this crazed crew - no doubt they were emotionally vulnerable when they made the decision and prime for exploitation. There are much more compassionate alternatives available like hospice care (OLPH Cancer Home near Turner Field is one example) that are worthy of support.
By JC
Feb 27, 2009 11:32 AM | Link to this
There is a much better approach for human life than to think it is disposable and human controlled. It is not the responsibility of ANY human to reach out and encourage death. Yes, let God be the ultimate Judge, but at the same time we humans should not play God by advocating that this is OK. Groups like this should absolutely not be allowed.
By MB
Feb 27, 2009 11:20 AM | Link to this
I will pray for all of these individuals, and all who agree w/such practices.
God Bless
By null
Feb 27, 2009 10:58 AM | Link to this
Why are the police wasting tax dollars in this? If somebody wants to kill themselves LET THEM. For the love of god at least these people aren't going out and shooting up schools and malls. The world needs fewer people anyway and if these people want to dictate when they go out, let's let them.
By JC
Feb 27, 2009 10:10 AM | Link to this
Seriously, we are comparing ourselves with pets...."Our pets receive better treatment." Our pets do not have mouths to talk to us to tell us what they want nor can they rationalize and think like people do and express this. YOU make this decision for them based on what YOU think is best for the pet. YOU are making this decision for THEM.
"How is it that we view it as OK to end a pet's life when there is no hope for them but we don't offer that same option to our terminally ill?" There are plenty of ways to end your own life rather than this hokey nonsense.
If you suffer from a chronic pain and feel the only way out is this assisted suicide so you can go with "dignity", then your "dignity" is already toast. You can talk a big game but when it comes down to it, you rely on this BS to make the ultimate decision for you.
By Bob J
Feb 27, 2009 9:12 AM | Link to this
When my dogs were suffering and they had no quality of life left, I took them to my vet to end their suffering.
How is it that we view it as OK to end a pet's life when there is no hope for them but we don't offer that same option to our terminally ill? I suffer from chronic pain right now but there will come a point when my medications will no longer relieve the pain. Which is better - to have me crying and unable to move with no possibility of relief for God knows how many years or to let me end my life with dignity?
I sincerely hope that some day assisted suicide becomes an option for those people that face nothing except pain filled days and nights. The real crime is making them live in agony day after day.
By mp
Feb 27, 2009 9:02 AM | Link to this
With the healthcare system in this country--if a person isn't covered, can't afford the medication or treatment and has an illness that has them in terrible pain what are they supposed to do? They are literally left with no choice but death. Death is there only relief.
The healthcare system is this country should be brought to trial and prosecuted for all of the deaths it has let needlessly happen. Our healthcare system is a government santioned killer in our midst.
By LimitedInsight
Feb 27, 2009 8:41 AM | Link to this
This trial will mostly likely spark protests from both sides. The Group Not Dead Yet has made its priority to eradicate assisted suicide and euthanasia. "Stephen Drake of the group Not Dead Yet, an advocacy group for the disabled that opposes assisted suicide and euthanasia, said he wonders why the Final Exit Network's activities are not classified as murder.
"It's like approaching somebody who is on the ledge of a building and giving them a shove instead of pulling them back," he said." For those of us who vehemently oppose the beliefs and tactics used by this group, we will have to make a stance to get our voices heard. This will fall to the courts to answer the question, "Do we have the right to terminate our own life and, if we do, who can help us (if anyone), what means will be acceptable, who can surround us at our chosen time of death...?" This is a legalistic matter and, unfortunately, these people are facing (such an embarrassment) RICO charges by the state of GA. No doubt the group Not Dead Yet is feeding the flames on this one. To compare assisted suicide to Nazi Germany is to take one big spill off the slippery slope of reasoning!!! One thing is clear, however, and that is that doctors, patients, nurses and the terminally ill will have to go underground as euthanasia will never stop. Damn the torpedos! GA has waged a battle with little insight and massive amounts of hysteria!
By ThrowAwayTheKey
Feb 27, 2009 8:14 AM | Link to this
How can I contribute to the prosecution fund for the case against these killers who exploit the vulnerable for their own glorification? Not unlike the medical experimenters and euthanists of Nazi Germany, who saw themselves as saviors of society and cloaked their misdeeds under the guise of compassion. With all due respect to DB - but if you think BHO's health care reform is going to support hospice care, I'll believe it when I see it.
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