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13 years ago
Edited: 13 years ago, star
Dr. Lawrence Egbert is an 82 year old medical director of the Final Exit Network (FEN). FEN is a radical organization that counsels individuals with serious ailments on how to commit suicide. Most right-to-die organizations advocate assisted suicide only to patients who are terminally ill. However, according to the FEN mandate, they help people who "have an incurable condition which causes intolerable suffering".
The article speaks briefly about a man suffering from oral cancer who was assisted by the FEN to commit suicide. His wife found out after the fact and is of course sad, devastated and enraged.
Dr. Egbert has been banned and is facing charges in only two US states, Georgia and Arizona.
The New Doctor Death
Despite criminal charges in two states, the head of a radical right-to-die group insists his work is compassionate and necessary.
In 2006 John Celmer's body began to break down. He was diagnosed with oral cancer and had to undergo surgery to remove the tumor and then radiation therapy to kill off any remaining malignant cells. The radiation ravaged his jawbone and the surrounding tissue, leaving a hole in his chin. Fluid leaked onto his clothes. His teeth began falling out. He had difficulty eating and speaking. As Celmer's jaw began severing from his face, doctors attempted moderate treatments, but all of them failed. So in 2008, they sought to reconstruct his chin and jaw using tissue from his chest and bone from his lower leg. The procedures appeared successful, but five days after the final operation, he was discovered dead in his Cumming, Ga., home.
At first everyone assumed he'd died of natural causes. Yet as Celmer's wife, Susan, sifted through his belongings, she discovered several things that puzzled her: a receipt for two helium tanks, a handwritten note referring to his need to acquire a "hood," an entry on his calendar (May 7, 2008: "Claire here at 1:30") that mentioned someone she didn't know. Susan also found paperwork referencing something called Final Exit Network (FEN). As she later learned, it was an organization that counseled people with serious ailments on how to commit suicide. She shared her findings with police, who launched an investigation and eventually concluded that the group had helped Celmer kill himself. Susan was devastated—and enraged. What right did FEN have to help usher her husband to his death? "We are not the Creator," she told NEWSWEEK. "We do not give life and don't have the option to take life."
The man authorities say assumed that role is Dr. Lawrence Egbert. As FEN's medical director at the time of Celmer's death, he was the one who ultimately decided who the group would help end their lives. FEN is one of the most radical right-to-die organizations in the country. While most such groups advocate assisted suicide only for terminally ill patients, FEN's bar is lower. It's willing to help those who "have an incurable condition which causes intolerable suffering," according to its Web site—a requirement vague enough to potentially include people with many years left to live or with afflictions like depression. Egbert says the organization follows rigorous procedures to determine whether to approve an applicant, including examination of medical records and four levels of review. To those it accepts, FEN assigns “exit guides” which offer advice on how to "hasten death," but not physical help to do so. (FEN recommends filling a plastic bag, or hood, with helium and pulling it over one's head—a method that works quickly and leaves no trace in the body.) By not physically participating in the act, the group argues, it remains in compliance with the law, which in the vast majority of states prohibits assisting with a suicide. But the statutes are hazy on what exactly constitutes assistance.
As a result of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation inquiry into Clemer's death, Egbert and three other members of the group were indicted March 9 on charges of racketeering, assisting a suicide, and tampering with evidence (their arraignment is scheduled for April 1; Egbert will plead not guilty, says his lawyer). In a separate case, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office in Phoenix indicted Egbert and three additional FEN members last May for conspiracy to commit manslaughter (Egbert pleaded not guilty). Authorities in Florida also investigated a suicide that they suspected was linked to the group, but in the end, didn't file any charges.
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