[Right_to_die] Help to Final Exit Network member was by information only

[World right-to-die news list (nonprofit)]

The Athens Messenger newspaper, Ohio, reported 16 June 09:

Athens woman was member
of right-to-die group

By JOE HIGGINS, Messenger staff writer

The president of a right-to-die group has confirmed that a woman found 
dead in her Athens-area home on Monday had been in contact with the 
group and was a member.

Her death is under investigation by the Athens County Sheriff's Office 
and Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation. The 
Messenger does not print the names of suicide victims, except under 
specific circumstances that this case currently does not meet.

Jerry Dincin, president of Final Exit Network, spoke with The Messenger 
on Tuesday and acknowledged the 69-year-old resident of Dutch Creek Road 
was a member of the group and had been since March of 2008. Dincin 
claims that no one from Final Exit Network was with the woman when she died.
The woman was found dead Monday morning by a family member. Authorities 
have said it appears she died of asphyxiation.

Dincin said an "exit guide" visited with the woman to conduct an intake 
interview and discussed with her how she felt about dying and how much 
suffering she was going through. He said the exit guide would have given 
her information about the method suggested to “hasten the end of life,” 
but would not have been there when she died.

Dincin said the exit guide, whom he did not name, met with the woman 
once, but kept in contact via telephone since March of 2008. He said 
Final Exit Network’s role was to “just be there as a presence.” He said, 
“people don’t like to die alone” and described Final Exit Network as a 
“compassionate presence.”

“This particular case, we were not there when she died,” Dincin said. 
“We’d been there before and had given her information (on) the method 
used. This woman was dying. She was miserable, was in misery. She had a 
narrow group of supporters, zero in fact. She was alone and suffering. 
We were her contact to ease her suffering.”

Dincin said the group did not encourage the woman to commit suicide.

"We don’t promote anyone ending their own life. People come to us with a 
need to do so,” he said. “In this case, we were not there. Just as a 
compassionate presence. This woman had no one or felt alone."

Dincin declined to detail the woman’s alleged health problems, but said 
she had “a stack of medical records” and “she did the right thing, no 
question."

Final Exit Network is embroiled in a legal battle in Georgia concerning 
assisted suicide. Dincin asserted his organization does not assist in 
suicide. He said Final Exit Network does not inject anyone with 
anything, buy any items used in a suicide or do anything other than give 
information. Dincin said he looks forward to a trial where the question 
can be answered whether “you are allowed to give information to people 
and show them a way to hasten the end of their own life or not.”

Dincin said all the information is available publicly and the question 
is a First Amendment issue.

“They’re trying to close us down. People have the right to end their own 
lives. We’d like to see this question answered at trial,” said Dincin.

Dincin said it is alleged that his organization broke a law in Georgia 
concerning assisted suicide. He said he does not anticipate charges 
being filed in the Athens case because “we weren’t even there.” He also 
said there is no law against assisted suicide in Ohio.

Ted Hart, spokesman for the Ohio Attorney General's Office, said there 
is no criminal code in Ohio specifically making assisting in a suicide 
illegal. Each case must be examined individually to determine if a 
person assisting in a suicide should be charged criminally under any 
other section of Ohio law, he said.

"There is no exception in Ohio homicide law for assisted suicide," Hart 
said. "It depends on the specifics. It depends on the facts of the case."

In other words, if the facts of the case warrant it, a person who 
assists in a death could be charged with a homicide offense.

Ohio civil law states that assisted suicide is against the public policy 
of the state, and the law sets up a system for obtaining an injunction 
against any action related to assisting suicide.

According to Dincin, Final Exit Network has been in existence since 2004 
and has more than 3,000 members who support the idea of right-to-die. 
Dincin said a small number of members have used the organization’s services.