7.6 /10 1 Votes
Language English Publication date August 1, 1992 Pages 213 Originally published 1991 Page count 213 OCLC 26465758 | 3.8/5 Goodreads Publisher Dell Media type Print ISBN 0-440-50488-0 Country United States of America | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Similar Works by Derek Humphry, Death books, Euthanasia books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying is a controversial 1991 book by Derek Humphry, founder of the Hemlock Society in California and past president of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies.
A newspaper journalist and author who helped his wife, Jean, kill herself with an intentional overdose of medication after a long and painful decline from terminal cancer. Humphry wrote the book as a how-to guide for terminally ill people who wish to kill themselves. The controversy arose not only from the intense debate over whether one should have a right to kill oneself, and whether anyone, especially medical professionals, can ethically assist self-chosen euthanasia, but also because the information in the book can be used by anyone, not just the terminally ill.
The book covers many aspects of planning and carrying out suicide and covers the processes for a variety of suicide methods.
In 2000, a Supplement to Final Exit was published with a new chapter on a method using helium gas as an alternative not requiring controlled prescription drugs. In 2001, marking the book's 10th anniversary, this information was included in the revised 3rd edition of the book. In 2005, an electronic addendum to the 3rd edition was released, offering refinements to the helium bag technique. The addendum was updated May 2009.
Success of the book
Final Exit has been translated into 12 languages and is banned by law only in France. In 2014 it remained in print in English in its 3rd edition.
In 1991 it was 18 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.
In April 2007, the editors and book critics of the American national newspaper USA TODAY selected Final Exit as one of the 25 most memorable books of the last quarter century.
Humphry subsequently put the information in this book onto a VHS video (2000) and a DVD (2006), both available through ERGO.
The ethicist Peter Singer included it on a list of his top ten books in The Guardian.