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Final Exit

For the Indian film, see The Final Exit (film).
Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying
AuthorDerek Humphry
LanguageEnglish
SubjectSelf-euthanasia
PublisherDell
Publication date
1991
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint
Pages213
ISBN0-440-50488-0
OCLC26465758
Preceded byJean's Way 

Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying, often shortened to just Final Exit, is a 1991 book written by Derek Humphry, a British-born American journalist, author, and assisted suicide advocate who co-founded the now-defunct Hemlock Society in 1980 and co-founded the Final Exit Network in 2004. The book was first published in 1991 by the Hemlock Society US in hardback. The following year, its 2nd edition was published by Dell in trade paperback. The current updated edition was published in 2010.[1]

The book, often described as a "suicide manual", describes the means that the terminally ill may use to end their lives. The book further outlines relevant laws, techniques, and living wills.[2] Final Exit was perceived as controversial,[3] and the book drove debate regarding the right to die. Another concern was that people who were mentally ill could use the information found in the book to end their lives.[4][5] Despite the controversy, Final Exit reached #1 on The New York Times Best Seller list in August 1991.[6]

Final Exit Network claims that approximately 750,000 copies have been sold in the United States and Canada and approximately 500,000 elsewhere. The book is banned in France.[7] Final Exit is Derek Humphry's third book on the subject of self-euthanasia; it was preceded by Jean's Way (1978) and The Right to Die: Understanding Euthanasia (1986).

Success of the book

In 1991, Final Exit spent 18 weeks on The New York Times non-fiction Best Seller list, it reached #1 in August and was selected by USA Today in 2007 as one of the 25 most influential books of the quarter century.[8]

It has been translated into 12 languages.[9] The original English language version is in its third edition.

In 2000, Derek Humphry recorded a VHS video version of the information in the book;[10] a DVD version[11] and a Kindle version[12] were released in 2006 and 2011, respectively. A 4th edition, Final Exit 2020, was released as an ebook.

The ethicist Peter Singer included it on a list of his top ten books in The Guardian.[13]

It has been alleged that members of the Heaven's Gate cult used information from Humphry's book in order to commit mass suicide.[14] In response, Humphry said, "It's as bad as someone going into a gun shop and purchasing guns for self-defense or target practice and then using them for mass murder."[15]

Reception

Final Exit has been a frequent target of censors; the book appears on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–1999 at number 29.[16]

  • Industrial metal band Fear Factory uses quotes from Humphry's video in the last track, "Final Exit", of their seventh studio album Mechanize.[citation needed]
  • In a Christmas episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, Dr. Forrester gives TV's Frank a copy of the book as a gift after he reveals that he stole Frank's blood to pay for it.
  • In episode 11 of the sixth season of Married... with Children, Al Bundy can be seen reading the book while in bed.
  • In episode 6 of the first season of The Powers That Be (1992), Theodore Van Horne (David Hyde Pierce) reads the book in bed, ticking off the methods he's tried.
  • Bill Hicks incorporated the book into several of his bootleg shows as a build-up to one of his controversial sketches on how euthanasia can make movies more interesting and believable, quoting the phrase "Put 'em in the movies..."
  • In episode 10 of season one of the Showtime TV show Huff, Beth Huffstodt finds a copy of the book in her mother-in-law's closet and worries that her mother-in-law is planning to kill herself.[17]
  • In the novel All My Puny Sorrows, suicidal Elfrieda orders a copy of the book and her husband and sister debate whether or not to dispose of it.
  • The book is mentioned in the novel The Treatment (where it is found in the house of a man who has committed suicide).[18][non-primary source needed]
  • Humphry summarizes the world reaction to Final Exit in his memoir Good Life, Good Death (Carrel Books, NY, 2017).
  • On episode 14 of the final season of Golden Girls ("Old Boyfriends"), Blanche is reading the personals column of their local newspaper for Sophia. One of the ads makes a reference to the Final Exit as one of the hobbies of an individual seeking a date partner.
  • The book is in the bathroom in the 2016 movie Sister Cities, in which the mother, suffering from ALS, planned her own exit.
  • The book is referenced in the 2020 movie Nomadland by a character who is dying from brain cancer and contemplating suicide. However, the character mistakenly claims that it was written by Jack Kevorkian.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Final Exit, 3rd Edition by Derek Humphry (updated April 2010) – ERGO". www.finalexit.org. Archived from the original on 2021-05-16. Retrieved 2022-05-14.
  2. ^ "4 assisted suicide group members are arrested". NBC News. 26 February 2009. Archived from the original on 2021-06-03. Retrieved 2022-05-14.
  3. ^ "Suicide Book Stirring Controversy And Sales". Chicago Tribune. 14 August 1991. Archived from the original on 2018-02-04. Retrieved 2018-02-03.
  4. ^ Majchrowicz, Michael (July 6, 2016). "The Volunteers Who Help People End Their Own Lives". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on February 5, 2018. Retrieved February 5, 2018.
  5. ^ Joyce, Jaime (27 December 2013). "Kill Me Now: The Troubled Life And Complicated Death Of Jana Van Voorhis". BuzzFeed. Archived from the original on 2018-03-21. Retrieved 2018-02-05.
  6. ^ Altman, Lawrence K. (August 9, 1991). "How-To Book on Suicide Is Atop Best-Seller List". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 13, 2018. Retrieved February 10, 2018 – via NYTimes.com.
  7. ^ "Questions – Answers". Archived from the original on 2019-11-30. Retrieved 2018-02-03.
  8. ^ "25 Books that leave a legacy - USATODAY.com". usatoday30.usatoday.com. Archived from the original on 2013-04-14. Retrieved 2014-10-07.
  9. ^ "'Final Exit' book updated for 2010 | Assisted-Dying Blog". May 14, 2010. Archived from the original on June 3, 2021. Retrieved May 14, 2022.
  10. ^ Humphry, Derek (2 April 2003). Final Exit. ERGO Bookstore. ISBN 0963728024.
  11. ^ "Final Exit on DVD by Derek Humphry – ERGO". www.finalexit.org. Archived from the original on 2020-11-25. Retrieved 2022-05-14.
  12. ^ Humphry, Derek (30 June 2011). Final Exit Digital Edition (2011 KE): The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying. 3.1 edition. Archived from the original on 2022-05-14. Retrieved 2018-02-05 – via Amazon.
  13. ^ Singer, Peter (6 April 2001). "Peter Singer's top 10 books". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 9 May 2014. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
  14. ^ Chryssides, George D (2018). "Suicide, Suicidology, and Heaven's Gate". Journal of Religion and Violence. 6 (2): 191–205. doi:10.5840/jrv20188153. JSTOR 26671570. Retrieved 5 August 2024.
  15. ^ "Gates of Hell". The Oklahoman. Retrieved 5 August 2024.
  16. ^ Office of Intellectual Freedom (2013-03-26). "100 most frequently challenged books: 1990–1999". American Library Association. Archived from the original on 2020-10-10. Retrieved 2021-06-20.
  17. ^ Huff (TV series)
  18. ^ The Treatment page 105
  • The archives of the Hemlock Society and Derek Humphry are at the Allen Library, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

Bibliography
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