Ring exposes rift in ‘right-to-die’ movement

ATLANTA - The case against members of an assisted suicide ring charged with helping a Georgia man kill himself has exposed a rift in the “right-to-die” movement as key players, including Dr. Jack Kevorkian, rush to distance themselves from the group’s practices.

Kevorkian and others active in the movement have long argued that terminally ill people should be able to seek assistance ending their lives, but only from doctors.

The Georgia-based Final Exit Network uses volunteers who are not physicians as “exit guides,” contending such efforts are necessary to help those who want to die but live in states where doctor-assisted suicide is illegal.

“It just feels like something that’s so totally different from what we do – working with legislators, physicians and pharmacists over the ethical way to do this,” said Peg Sandeen, executive director of the Oregon-based Death With Dignity National Center. “I’m concerned there’s not a set of standards that are followed that protect people.”

Kevorkian, who claims he participated in about 130 deaths before going to prison in Michigan for second-degree murder, is also critical of the network’s methods.

“They’re doing what they can do within the bounds of circumstance. I understand that, but it is still the wrong way,” he told Detroit’s WXYZ-TV last week shortly after Georgia authorities arrested four network members for helping 58-year-old John Celmer kill himself.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says the group may have helped 200 people around the nation commit suicide by sending exit guides to their homes to show them how to suffocate themselves using helium tanks and a plastic hood.

The network says it caters to people with incurable conditions suffering from intolerable pain. Under the group’s rules, a medical committee must vet each applicant’s file, but a physician need not be present during a suicide.