A Georgia woman has filed suit in federal court for the right to assisted suicide.
The New Jersey-based Final Exit Network, which is alleged to have helped people commit suicide, stopped its activities in Georgia when four members were arrested in connection with a June 2008 suicide. The four are charged with violating Georgia law in the death of John Delmer, 58, of Cumming, who died of asphyxiation after inhaling helium in the presence of two of them.
Rita Marker, an attorney and founder of the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, now tells OneNewsNow that 43-year-old Susan Caldwell, who has a serious medical issue, wants the help of the Final Exit Network as she seeks to die.
"The woman...has Huntington's Chorea -- which is really a devastating illness, without question," she acknowledges. "But she has now filed suit in federal court asking that an 'exit guide' can be assigned to her."
Rita Marker (International Tasf Force on Euthanasia and Assited Suicide)According to the Final Exit Network, exit guides assist people through suicides. The arrests of the four Network guides two years ago prevented Caldwell from proceeding with her plans.
Marker says the lawsuit is dangerous -- and not just because it is filed in federal court. "This makes it clear that if indeed the court were to agree with her, this would permit anybody, anyplace, anytime to be involved in someone else's suicide just saying it's a compassionate thing to do," says the Task Force spokeswoman.
The court could dismiss the case -- or it could issue a ruling, which would send it on a path to the U.S. Supreme Court. Whether that court would accept it, of course, would be a totally different matter since it usually rules on only a handful of cases each year.
Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow
Publish Date: December 21, 2010
