Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter


4

Suicide Group May Have Helped 130 Kill Selves

Four members face charges in Georgia

Share

(Newser) – A group that helps people commit suicide with helium gas may have had a role in more than 130 deaths, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. That revelation surfaced in a court document related to the arrest yesterday of four members of the Final Exit group. The four suspects, two from Georgia and two from Maryland, are charged with assisting the suicide of a 58-year-old cancer victim.

"We're just there to help," one of the group's leaders told the AP. "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." The group says it guides people in donning a special hood to inhale helium, a tactic that makes the suffocation look like natural causes.

This photo provided by the Baltimore Police Department shows Dr. Lawrence D. Egbert, 81. He is one of the four members of Final Exit charged with aiding a suicide.
This photo provided by the Baltimore Police Department shows Dr. Lawrence D. Egbert, 81. He is one of the four members of Final Exit charged with aiding a suicide.   (AP Photo/Baltimore Police Department)
The home where police say members of Final Exit helped cancer victim John Celmer, 58, end his life in Cumming, Ga.
The home where police say members of Final Exit helped cancer victim John Celmer, 58, end his life in Cumming, Ga.   (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

The law is very clear,
and they clearly violated it.
- John Bankhead, spokesman for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
OFF THE GRID
11.20.09
The Health-Care Wars Have Just Begun
11.19.09
Sarah Palin Deserves Some More Attention
4 comments
VIEWING:
 
anchower
Feb 26, 09 11:38 PM CST
F Georgia. The right to choose the time and mode of one's death is the most fundamental right of all. Without it, freedom is a filthy illusion. Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
0
riffran
Feb 27, 09 12:17 AM CST
I hope I am never in the place to have to make that decision Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
0
kokuaguy
Feb 27, 09 2:30 AM CST
Where can I contribute to the legal defense fund? Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
0
Doctor_Zaius
Feb 28, 09 5:50 PM CST
When it's my time to go I hope it is with dignity and not clawing for my last breath in pain and agony because some asshole thinks he knows what's best for me. The government should stay out of my life AND my death. Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
0
LEAVE A
COMMENT Comment Policy
Facebook ConnectPost this comment to Facebook?

After connecting you will have the option to post your comment on your Facebook profile.

 

Related Newser Stories

484 Stories

UPDATED

 Suicide Suspected 
 in Death of 
 Model Daul Kim 


20-year-old South Korean beauty had popular blog, video diary

Nov 20, 09 10:57 AM CST
(Newser) - Police officially suspect suicide in the death of top South Korean model Daul Kim, who was discovered hanged in her Paris apartment yesterday. Kim’s boyfriend found the 20-year-old Fashion Week regular, the AP reports, and sources tell New York she committed suicide. Also a popular video diarist and blogger... More »

MORE ABOUT:
suicide • death • Paris • model • fashion model • Daul Kim • Daul Kim suicide • Daul Kim death

Life Insurance Scam Eyed
in Hanging

Census worker may have disguised suicide as murder

Nov 13, 09 5:07 AM CST
(Newser) - A census worker found hanged in September may have staged his death for insurance reasons, police say. Sources tell the AP that Bill Sparkman may have manipulated the scene to make his suicide look like murder so that his son could collect on his insurance policy. "If it's deemed... More »

MORE ABOUT:
suicide • life insurance • 2010 census • Bill Sparkman

 Wife: Depression 
 Ate German Keeper 

Enke feared he'd lose adopted daughter before train suicide

Nov 11, 09 9:50 PM CST
(Newser) - The German soccer star who committed suicide yesterday by jumping in front of a train had battled depression for years, his wife said today, with Robert Enke fearing he could lose his newly adopted daughter because of his condition. “We thought we could cope with everything. We thought that... More »

MORE ABOUT:
suicide • adoption • depression • Germany • soccer • train • 2010 World Cup • goalkeeper • Robert Enke • Teresa Enke

484 Stories


US 
TwitterFollow @NewserUS on Twitter

 
suicide • assisted suicide • Georgia

from our news partners