Final Exit Network

Final Exit Network, Inc.
PredecessorHemlock Society
Formation2004
FounderDerek Humphry, Faye Girsh, Ted Goodwin, others
80-0119137
Legal statusActive
HeadquartersTallahassee, Florida, US (mailing address)
President
Brian Ruder
Websitefinalexitnetwork.org

Final Exit Network, Inc. (FEN) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit right to die advocacy group incorporated under Florida law.[1] It holds that mentally competent adults who suffer from a terminal illness, intractable pain, or irreversible physical (though not necessarily terminal) conditions have a right to voluntarily end their lives.[2] In cases deemed valid, Final Exit Network arranges what it refers to as "self deliverances".[3] Typically, the network assigns two "exit guides" to a client and are present when they die, but the network states, and has proven in court, that it does not provide physical assistance in anyone's death;[4] rather, their role is that of compassionate advisors and witnesses.

Final Exit Network was founded in 2004 by former members of the Hemlock Society, including that organization's co-founders, Derek Humphry and Dr. Faye Girsh.[5] It was named after Humphry's 1991 book of the same name.[6] It is a member of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies.[7]

The organization has occasionally been the subject of controversy and criticism due to its methodology.[8] It favors the inhalation of inert gasses such as helium or nitrogen[1] in conjunction with an "exit hood".[9]

Final Exit Network and individual members have been prosecuted in Arizona,[10] Georgia,[11] and Minnesota.[12] The defenses have largely centered around what constitutes aiding or assisting in suicides. The defendants conceded that while volunteer exit guides give their clients information about how to ensure a swift, pain-free death, they do not physically take part in the suicides, and they maintain that prohibitions against informing clients how to take their lives violate the free speech clause of the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights.[13] The Minnesota case resulted in the first and only conviction of either Final Exit Network or any of its personnel. In the Minnesota trial, it was established that Final Exit Network personnel did not provide any physical assistance in the "suicide" of the "victim." The State openly acknowledged that the corporation (and only the corporation) was convicted solely for communicating "words" that "enabled" a suicide, not for any physical conduct. For its sentence, the corporation was ordered to pay $30,000 in fines and $2,975.63 in restitution.[14] The Minnesota Court of Appeal affirmed the corporation's conviction in December 2016 (confirming there was no physical assistance but rejecting Final Exit Network's free speech argument); the Supreme Court of Minnesota declined to review the conviction in March 2017, and the United States Supreme Court denied certiorari review in October 2017.[15]

  1. ^ a b Final Exit: Compassion or Assisted Suicide?
  2. ^ "Final Exit Network Mission page". Archived from the original on 2019-10-26. Retrieved 2018-01-29.
  3. ^ FEN Homepage
  4. ^ "Questions---Answers". Archived from the original on 2019-11-30. Retrieved 2018-02-19.
  5. ^ "History of Final Exit Network". Archived from the original on 2020-02-01. Retrieved 2018-02-03.
  6. ^ Final Exit, The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying by Derek Humphry[permanent dead link]
  7. ^ World Federation of Right to Die Societies member organizations
  8. ^ Final Exit: Compassion or Assisted Suicide? (Time.com)
  9. ^ Arrests Made, Search Warrants Executed in Assisted Suicide Investigation into Final Exit Network
  10. ^ Lawerence Egbert: Suicide Doctor Acquitted
  11. ^ Severson, Kim (7 February 2012). "Georgia Court Rejects Law Aimed at Assisted Suicide (Published 2012)". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2023-02-18.
  12. ^ "Supreme-Court-MN-vs--Final-Exit-Network". Archived from the original on 2017-12-17. Retrieved 2018-01-29.
  13. ^ "Home Page 2". Archived from the original on 2019-10-26. Retrieved 2018-02-14.
  14. ^ Right-to-die group convicted of assisting in Minnesota suicide
  15. ^ [1] SCOTUS Declines To Hear Minnesota Assisted Suicide Case