Newsletter

NETWORK TRAINS 15 EXIT GUIDES IN ST. LOUIS!

WE ARE NOT FEN!!

If you think you might want our services

Membership cards coming soon!

If you would Like to be an Exit Guide

Meet our member evaluation team

Photo of our "Greats"

Here are 10 important differences from other right-to-die organizations

Final Exit Network President challenges Supreme Court!

Switching countries not allowed under European laws

Network Board donates $1000 to help Nitschke research

Final Exit Network, less than two months old, completed training 15 new Exit Guides for its program "to be there for people who are suffering intolerably from an incurable physical condition that has become more than they can bear." The prospective Guides arrived Friday, November 12, at the St. Louis Marriott Airport Hotel-all paying their own way to be there (the organization is new and not yet financially flush). We consider this a terrific tribute to their desire to serve people who are suffering; these are true humanitarians.

The group met socially that evening.

SATURDAY: Ted Goodwin, Treasurer & Founding Board member, started the day with a thorough description of what was happening at EOLC when he was on the Board, why he and others resigned, and why we have started the Network.

Faye Girsh spoke about the status of our movement around the world, and on other options available to a dying person.

Goodwin explained the system we will use for people seeking our services-how calls will flow into our Atlanta headquarters, be directed to First Responders for assessment, then through our Medical Director and Evaluation Committee, and finally, as needed, to the Exit Guides and Senior Exit Guides.

Our Medical Director, Dr. Larry Egbert, explained our Policies and Principles.

After lunch, Wye Hale-Rowe, former Hemlock Incoming Calls Counselor, discussed what to ask members who call for service, when to ask, and how to get all the information so the evaluators can make a sound decision.

Bob Brush, Secretary & Founding Board Member, discussed the need for caution in our actions.

Dr. Egbert, using an Exit Bag, then demonstrated the method of helium inhalation that we recommend.

Earl Wettstein, President & Founding Board Member, discussed some of the nuances of being an Exit Guide, from the types of dwellings you will encounter, to family attitudes, to staying focused on the member during the final exit.

That evening some attendees ate together while others went into the city for a jazz break.

SUNDAY: Dr. Egbert began the morning by reading the words of Reverend Ken Phifer, Michigan U/U minister. This was well received, and excerpts will be in our next newsletter. The full text has already been published on our website.

Then-the highlight of the weekend-the Exit Guides each got to participate in a hands-on training with a Senior Guide. We all exchanged opportunities at being the ailing member, the guide, and the senior. These rehearsals were with real helium, real exit bags, and real dialog. Each person got to show how they would handle a similar situation. The group was through by noon in time to catch their flights back home.

Derek Humphry, who had been at the founding in Chicago, had been invited to attend and speak, but was unable to this time.

Welcome to your historic first newsletter from Final Exit Network. We invite your comments and contributions.

We are "Final Exit Network", or "The Network", or even "Final Exit", but we ARE NOT "FEN".

Let other organizations be CID or EOLC or NBC or IBM or C&C, but not us. We are not an acronym. We are a name. And a fine name, half borrowed from Derek Humphry's famous books and half suggested by Derek himself (the "Network" part he named at the Founder's Meeting in Chicago in August).

So don't let anyone say "FEN" to you. Plead ignorance and ask them, "Do you mean 'The Network'?"

CRITERIA TO HAVE YOUR CASE ACCEPTED:

• Membership in Final Exit Network.
• Documentation of an incurable physical condition.
• Support of your family & caregivers on premises.
• Mentally and physically able during "window of opportunity."

CAUSES FOR DENYING ACCEPTANCE:

• Strong opposition of family or caregivers on premises.
• When security of Exit Guides cannot be assured.
• When Exit Guide is uncomfortable with any circumstance of the final exit.

Exit Guides are brave, compassionate men & women, dedicated to serving you, but we will not ask them to get into a situation where they may encounter trouble or adversity.

Please remember we are only two months old, so membership cards have not been as high a priority as recruiting members, training Exit Guides, and developing our By-Laws. But the card is coming.

Your membership card will be thin plastic, printed on both sides. On the back will be space for you to print the name and phone number of your health care advocate.

If you think you would like to volunteer to be an Exit Guide, let us know.

If we have enough cases to keep our current Exit Guides busy, we may have another training session in the spring. It depends on the flow and volume of cases we receive.

We plan to keep the guides who just completed training very, very busy. After all, they paid their own way to the training session, and we do not want our guides sitting around feeling under-used.

But if you are interested, please let us know now. We think our Exit Guides will soon be overworked, and we may need more guides as soon as March 2005.

Dr. Larry Egbert, a senior "Caring Friend" and colleague of Dick MacDonald has also become our Medical Director, supervising all cases in the USA.

When a Member meets the basic criteria, their documentation will come before an Evaluation Team. Larry has assembled a strong Evaluation Team consisting of himself, Reverend Ken Phifer, and Hemlock veteran Wye Hale-Rowe.

Members will be evaluated as quickly as possible in order to meet their needs within the Policies of the organization.

This was our "Wall of Fame" inside the conference training room in St. Louis. From left to right are Dr. Jack Kevorkian, Derek Humphry, John Westover (founder of the first Hemlock chapter in Tucson in 1983 and two-time national Board Chairman in the 90's), and Faye Girsh. If we ever have a headquarters' building, we will have these and other pioneers honored in the reception area. It's important to remember your history.

1. FOCUS ON PEOPLE NOT LAWS.  Rather than focus on legislative advocacy, we prefer to use our modest resources to serve people who are dying poorly today.

2. METHODS. It is difficult to acquire the necessary drugs to hasten your end, so instead we recommend and instruct Members on how to procure and use methods that are easily available.

The President of Final Exit Network, Earl Wettstein, speaking at an Exit Guide training session in St. Louis this month, challenged Supreme Court Justice Anthony "Ants" Scalia and his fellow justices to uphold the will of the voters of Oregon.

"The people of Oregon have twice expressed their approval of the state law that allows Physician Aid in Dying (PAD), and now lower courts have twice denied the federal government the right to overturn this law. Yet the Bush administration and Attorney General John Ashcroft, in his last hostile act before retiring, has sent his challenge of the Oregon law to the Supreme Court."

by Derek Humphry

An Italian delegate, Emilio Coveri, made an impassioned plea for those nations which have lawful assisted suicide to allow Italian people to travel there for assistance in death when he spoke at the 15th biennial conference of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies in Tokyo in October.

"Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands should accept cases from other countries," said Coveri of EXIT-Italia, Turin. "It would put pressure on the Italian government to change the laws on this."

The Final Exit Network Board unanimously agreed to send $1000 to Australia's Dr. Phillip Nitschke to help him further his work on end-of-life medications.

Through an organization called NuTech, Nitschke, along with many from the US including Derek Humphry, has been seeking and researching new, better, simpler ways to help people end the intolerable suffering of a bad death. When End of Life Choices USA, in preparation for its merger with Compassion in Dying, decided to stop supporting NuTech or Nitschke, the doctor struck out on his own. And he may have discovered something.

Whatever he has, The Network supports his efforts, and has made this contribution on behalf of all our members.