Final Exit Quotes

“The dilemma is awesome. But it has to be faced. Should you battle on, take the pain, endure the indignities, and await the inevitable end, which may be days, weeks, or months away? Or should you take control of the situation and resort to some form of euthanasia, which in its modern-language definition has come to mean “help with a good death”?”
― Derek Humphry, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying

“However much the drink is loaded with sweeteners, patients say it still tastes awful. Usually observers have noticed that the patients are so desperate to die that they ignore the nasty tasting drink. The Oregon dosage is:
 
Seconal capsules reduced to powder - 9 grams
& Pure water - 4 ounces

– OR –
 
Liquid Nembutal - 9 grams
& Add water to suit”
― Derek Humphry, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying

“The helium drives oxygen from the brain, causing rapid brain death and leaves no traces.”
― Derek Humphry, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying

“Some doctors who specialize in the care of geriatric patients have told me that there are rare occasions when they have heard a very old, sick, and frail person announce, “I’m going to die today.” And the individual did. But it doesn’t happen often.”
― Derek Humphry, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying

“A slight deviation of the gun barrel and the bullet misses vital organs but inflicts terrible wounds. Reports in newspapers and journals indicate that the preferred method is to put the gun into the mouth and shoot upward, but even here there have sometimes been survivors.”
― Derek Humphry, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying

“Death comes quickly in bitterly cold water from hypothermia. The lower the temperature, the faster the end. But there is always the chance that someone of whom you are not aware is watching and there is a possibility of rescue. This manner of suicide also leaves unanswered questions for survivors. Was it deliberate (if no note is left) or accidental? Will the body ever be found? Will there be an extensive search for the body, risking other people’s lives and a great deal of public expense?”
― Derek Humphry, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying

“Self-destruction by hanging is almost always an act of protest, a desire to shock and hurt someone. Therefore, believers in euthanasia avoid it. Even if the job of cutting down the body is left to the police or paramedics, this is an unacceptably selfish way to die, and I have never heard of a euthanasia supporter using it. Unless the neck is broken by the rope jerking the fall to a stop (as a professional hangman arranges), then it is death by strangulation, often not so quick.”
― Derek Humphry, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying

“The key to the effectiveness of cyanide as a killer is the water. This is borne out by evidence in textbooks that flocks of sheep that have eaten plants containing cyanide do not die so long as they do not drink. If the animals are near water, the plants are fatal.”
― Derek Humphry, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying

“Providing information about how persons may end their life is not a crime, at least in the United States, or I would have spent many years behind bars!”
― Derek Humphry, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying

“Assistance in suicide has never been against the law in Switzerland, Uruguay, Norway, and Germany provided the circumstances were provably compassionate and justifiable. You would be unwise to think of going to one of those countries, because they do not like strangers taking advantage of their laws. Also, the complications of securing your medical care and insurance would be horrendous.”
― Derek Humphry, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying

“Involuntary euthanasia – This is the most controversial way of hastened death, yet it goes on widely and secretly everywhere. Only the Dutch admit to it. It is sometimes necessary when a patient is suddenly, unexpectedly dying in agony, cannot communicate their wishes, and so the attending doctor administers a merciful end.”
― Derek Humphry, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying

“That fall it was the most talked about book in America, because the pundits could not fathom why a book giving guidance on suicide could be in such huge demand. What, they asked, had happened to America?
 
The simple answer was perhaps contained in my response on ABC-TV’s Nightline program when Barbara Walters asked me: 'Why is it a best-seller, Mr. Humphry?' My reply was: 'Because everybody dies, and nearly every person wonders, however privately, what form that death will take. They’re looking to Final Exit for options.”
― Derek Humphry, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying

“Self-destruction of a physically fit person is always a tragic waste of life and hurtful to survivors, but life is a personal responsibility. We must each decide for ourselves.”
― Derek Humphry, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying

“What separates a chosen “good death” from a bad one almost always comes down, upon analysis, to the amount of planning, attention to detail, and the quality of the assistance, all of which are vital to decent termination of life.”
― Derek Humphry, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying

“There is a growing moral view that patients should take charge of their own ends now that more sophisticated means of suicide – as described in this book – are available.”
― Derek Humphry, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying

“When a doctor is prescribing a lethal concoction to be taken orally, the drugs are best taken in a dissolved liquid, which can be downed quickly. The occasional delayed-action death is almost always caused by the patient falling asleep before taking enough.”
― Derek Humphry, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying

“If assistance is justifiable, a date is fixed for the final exit in the presence of two visitors who are there to give advice and moral support, but who do not break the law by physically assisting. The means by which the patient is to die have been agreed on beforehand: either drugs, or helium injected into a plastic hood. The helium method has been proven to be the quickest and most peaceful.”
― Derek Humphry, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying

“It is astonishing how many people do not make a will – legal scholars say about 85 percent of the population dies intestate.”
― Derek Humphry, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying

“If family circumstances unfortunately oblige you to end your life in a hospital or a motel, it is gracious to leave a note apologizing for the shock and inconvenience to the staff. I have also heard of individuals leaving a generous tip to the motel staff to compensate them for the disturbance caused.”
― Derek Humphry, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying

“Remember, there are two ways to starve oneself to death: without food and fluids, which is the quicker way but more painful; and with fluids only, which is slower but less painful. In both methods, painkilling drugs and skilled nursing are desirable.”
― Derek Humphry, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying

“A few terminally ill persons I have known have quietly ascended their favorite mountain late in the day and made sure that they were above the freezing line for that particular time of the year. They used public transport to get there so that a parked car would not be spotted. Then, wearing light clothing, they sat down in a secluded spot to await the end.”
― Derek Humphry, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying

“There have been many sad cases of accidental deaths of people who lit charcoal fires in tents or rooms without proper ventilation. But this method done deliberately for suicide carries with it a huge potential for explosion or fires that could kill other people. Sometimes the gas has leaked into the rooms where innocent people were sleeping. In Florida in 1996 a French woman on vacation decided to kill herself by gas; not only did she die, but also her husband and daughter, which she had not intended – her suicide note spoke of her wanting them to live without her being a burden.”
― Derek Humphry, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying

“Another depressed man in southern California who collected rattlesnakes as a hobby deliberately allowed one of his pets to bite him five or six times on the right hand. He suffered a fatal heart attack.”
― Derek Humphry, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying

“Not so bizarre, and a method for which I have respect, is freezing to death on a mountain. It takes a certain sort of person to want to die this way: having a love of and knowledge of mountains, determination, and the enduring courage to carry it off.”
― Derek Humphry, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying

“When choosing to die on a mountain or similar lonely place, it is considerate to leave a note saying where your body can be found. Otherwise, people might risk their lives and expend considerable resources hunting in dangerous places for you.”
― Derek Humphry, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying

“First, sodium thiopental is used to put the condemned individual to sleep; then follows Pavulon, a muscle relaxant similar to the South American poison curare, together with potassium chloride to stop the heart.”
― Derek Humphry, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying

“More than 40 percent of the suicides among chemists, both men and women, occur from swallowing cyanide, according to a report in the New York Times (9/4/87).”
― Derek Humphry, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying

“One of the most valuable services that hospice care offers is respite from the continual burden of care for the family member or members looking after a dying person. A hospice may be able to provide someone for several days, nights, or a week, to enable a stressed-out caregiver to take a break.”
― Derek Humphry, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying

“Touching the person in the act of helping him or her to die is where criminal liability is possible. Giving an injection, holding the cup to the mouth, helping to put a plastic bag over the head and securing it – all are actions that prosecutors could use to enforce existing laws against assistance in dying.”
― Derek Humphry, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying

“If you have to help a person die, say nothing. Let the police do their own sleuthing.”
― Derek Humphry, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying