Four members of the assisted-suicide network, Final Exit, were charged on Tuesday with helping a 58-year-old Georgia man kill himself.
A grand jury indicted Thomas Goodwin and three others with assisting in the death of John Celmer, after notes were found suggesting Celmer had sought help from Final Exit. Celmer was diagnosed with mouth and throat cancer, but reports indicate he was in remission at the time of his death.
Wesley Smith, senior fellow in human rights and bioethics at the Discovery Institute, said terminal illness is often used as a reason for assisted suicide, but it's not the ultimate goal.
"The ultimate goal, it seems to me," he said, "is a radical individualism that says people have the right to die at the time and in the manner of their choosing, and the place of their choosing. But this is a very insidious movement that dulls people's understanding of the importance and sanctity of human life."
He said the indictments will be used by assisted-suicide groups to distance themselves from "radicals" and to promote state legislation they say would prevent future abuses.
"The only problem is, state guidelines don't protect against abuses," he said, "and the very people they claim are radicals are their colleagues in the World Federation of Right to Die Societies."
Contact: Kim Trobee
Source: CitizenLink
Publish Date: March 10, 2010
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