regarding the inevitable endgame for all
PREFACE
There is no point going out in a lot of misery in my view of the endgame. I have watched too many suffer a great deal in their passing, and have over time pulled together a collection of thoughtful, informative, and compassionate articles, links, and quotes, for those who might wish to consider a less painful, more peaceful alternative for both themselves and those who love them ~ Michael Holshouser
A PDF is available at:
Final Exit and Related Links
http://www.
FINAL EXIT
Final Exit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Final Exit Network
https://finalexitnetwork.org/
Final Exit 2020 Digital Edition (PDF)
https://www.finalexit.org/
Final Exit: End of Life Planner
A FEW QUOTES
They tell us that suicide is the greatest piece of cowardice ... that suicide is wrong; when it is quite obvious that there is nothing in the world to which every man has a more unassailable title than to his own life and person ~ Arthur Schopenhauer
Just as I shall select my ship when I am about to go on a voyage, or my house when I propose to take a residence, so I shall choose my death when I am about to depart from life ~ Seneca
There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide ~ Albert Camus
The secret of life is knowing when to stop ~ Alan Watts
Am I a criminal? The world knows I'm not a criminal. What are they trying to put me in jail for? You've lost common sense in this society because of religious fanaticism and dogma ~ Jack Kevorkian
Your much-loved father-in-law, Gaius Julius Caesar, died this afternoon. As you know, he has been suffering from a malignancy in the throat for some time. And this afternoon he fell on his sword. He chose the best alternative, as I’m sure you will agree. No man should linger to be a burden to his loved ones, especially when it detracts from his dignity and integrity as a man. Is there one among us who prefers life to death when life mean lying in one’s own excrement, or being cleaned of their excrement by a slave? No, when a man cannot command either his bowels or his gorge, it is time to go ~ Publius Rutilius Rufus (In a letter to Gaius Marius in The First Man in Rome, an historical fiction book by Colleen McCullough)
HELIUM HOOD METHOD SUPPLIES
Amazon: Helium Tanks
Amazon: Nitrogen Tanks
https://www.amazon.com/
Ace Hardware: Ace ProLine 3/8 in. D X 1/2 in. D X 10 ft. L PVC Vinyl Tubing
WHERE TO BUY INERT GASES
How much nitrogen gas do I need to inhale to die painlessly? Not much! Fifty years ago when I was young and curious and was working in the semiconductor industry, they used nitrogen to blow dust off silicon wafers. I wondered what would happen if I breathed the pure nitrogen gas. Three breaths later I found out. I woke up on the floor. Apparently, I passed out so fast that I don’t remember anything. When I awoke I remember thinking, “WOW. That was fast!” I thought it was much more dangerous than it appeared. Nitrogen gas is not life-supporting at all. It’s not poisonous in that it will cause injury to your body, it’s just that your body can’t use it. So with the lack of oxygen you will quickly die. The only difference is that your lungs won’t seize up like they would if you tried to hold your breath or breathed carbon dioxide. There is no pain. There is only nothingness ~ Dixie Coulter, Ph.D. Chemistry & History, University of California, Santa Barbara (1966)
Where can I buy a tank of pure nitrogen (or helium) gas?
https://www.quora.com/Where-
I imagine there will be geographic variations in the answers to this question. I am in the United States and I buy all kinds of gases regularly for my "plasma art" hobby. You will not encounter any difficulty purchasing nitrogen or other inert gases sold in a CGA-580 cylinder, and no license is required.
Here are some pointers.
1. Distributors will sell you all kinds of tanks and gas products out of a catalog, but they only keep a couple nitrogen products in stock. In my area, I can buy UHP nitrogen (99.999%) or commercial grade (I think 99.9%). UHP costs about $70 per 250 cubic feet, and technical grade is only about $15 or so. The company will sell either in their own "K"-sized cylinders, or they will fill customer-owned cylinders that have a valid hydrotest date stamped on them and a compatible CGA fitting. For gas products not available locally, you will have to pay for shipping, including a hazmat surcharge, and you will have to wait either for your own customer-owned tank to be sent to the mixing plant or for their tank to arrive at your distributor. This can add weeks of lead time. For expensive gases, it is more common to purchase a small, disposable, non-refillable cylinder. A 50-standard-liter "lecture bottle" costs about $150 for the cylinder itself and its transportation. You can have such a cylinder filled with nitrogen. The product in the cylinder in this case would cost almost nothing. You would not be able to return the lecture bottle for refilling. That $150 is a per-purchase cost.
2. There are two typical models for paying for cylinders. You can either OWN the cylinder ("customer-owned") or you can pay demurrage on one belonging to the distributor. A standard steel K cylinder with a brass CGA-580 inert gas valve, in my experience the most common vessel for inert gases like nitrogen, costs about $400 new. Used cylinders can often be found on Craigslist and so forth for half of this. With used cylinders, make sure the dealer is reputable because these are frequently stolen or in bad condition. Check the hydrotest date stamped on the cylinder and the condition of the valve. If your cylinder is out of test, the gas plant will test it, typically for about $25 and a few days' wait. Double-check that the valve is a compatible type (CGA-580). If you own your own cylinder, you can often SWAP it on the gas seller's dock for an equivalent cylinder of common gas products, thus avoiding any wait while your original cylinder is filled. You pay only for the product in the new cylinder. If you do this, make sure the company gives you a decent exchange; it's common to turn in a cylinder with a test date years away, and be given one that comes due in a month. Demurrage or rental is often the cheaper option in the short term (a couple years of usage or less). You pay a yearly rental fee, typically on the order of $50 for a K cylinder, and a deposit of $50-$100 up front.
3. Tank sizes, weights, and transport issues. Gas dealers deliver and pick up from commercial addresses, but not residential addresses. If you want your cylinder at home, you will have to move it around yourself. A "K" cylinder is easily transportable, on a dolly, in the back seat of a typical midsize sedan. The cylinder itself weighs about 150 lb. However, you will never have to lift all that weight. You will struggle some with such a heavy and bulky object...everyone does. I am not quite sure what the DOT regulations are for nitrogen in a passenger vehicle, but have no problem transporting K cylinders all the time this way. If the gas distributor whines about you putting a cylinder in a car, and sometimes they do, you'll have to get a friend with a truck to help you carry cylinders. You can, of course, buy a small cylinder with a CGA-580 valve and move that around more easily. It all depends on how much gas you want and how you feel about the potential advantage of swapping the cylinder or the potential disadvantage of leaving it at the distributor for a few days to be filled it it's an uncommon size.
~ Carl Willis, BS Chemistry, MS Nuclear Engineering
ONLINE ARTICLES
In 'The Suicide Plan,' Frontline Explores Hidden World of Assisted Suicide
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/
Weighing the End of Life
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/
When Prolonging Death Seems Worse Than Death
http://www.npr.org/2012/10/09/
Passing thoughts at L.A.'s first Death Cafe
http://www.latimes.com/news/
How Rear Adm. Chester Nimitz Jr. and Joan Nimitz Chose to Die
http://www.slate.com/articles/
Deciding to Die, Then Shown the Door
http://newoldage.blogs.
A Better Way to Die
http://www.theatlantic.com/
Suicide (1897)
http://durkheim.uchicago.edu/
Cremation: The New American Way of Death
https://time.com/3800220/
Americans Seriously Unprepared for Long-Term Care, Survey Finds
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/
Helping Make the Best of the End of Life
http://www.theatlantic.com/
The Top 5 Things to Do When a Loved One Is Dying
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
My Mother Deserved to Die Comfortably
http://www.theatlantic.com/
When My Father Died, I Discovered the Unmentionable Stage of Mourning: Relief
One man’s use of VSED to end his life (Voluntary Stop Eating and Drinking)
https://www.washingtonpost.
More people are getting cremated, but what happens to the ashes?
Ashes often are returned to family members in a simple container. Decisions about what to do with them next can be expensive and fraught
https://www.washingtonpost.
Is there a right to die? Don’t look to liberals for an answer.
Liberalism maximizes individual autonomy but struggles on some choices that should remain off-limits.
https://www.washingtonpost.
I wish I could have given my father the death he deserved
Readers wrestle with the “right to die” debate over assisted suicide.
https://www.washingtonpost.
A stranger asked me to take her photograph. It saved my life.
Today, I am alive because a pink-haired stranger stopped me for a picture
https://www.washingtonpost.
Death, one day, is inevitable. Suffering should not be.
https://www.washingtonpost.
Meet the new, environmentally friendly alternative to burial or cremation: human composting
Is Funeral Home Chain SCI's Growth Coming at the Expense of Mourners?
https://www.bloomberg.com/
Life Lessons From Dad: Caring for an Elderly Parent
http://online.wsj.com/
'Going to Switzerland' Is a Euphemism for Assisted Suicide
http://www.theatlantic.com/
Coverage for End-of-Life Talks Gaining Ground
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/
India has highest number of suicides in the world: WHO
http://zeenews.india.com/news/
Suicide kills one person worldwide every 40 seconds, WHO report finds
http://www.theguardian.com/
How to Make a Living in the Death Industry
http://www.theatlantic.com/
Fighting to Honor a Father’s Last Wish: To Die at Home
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/
Next: Assisted Suicide for Healthy People
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
Why I Hope to Die at 75
http://www.theatlantic.com/
Nearing death, two people offer a journalist and caregiver life lessons
http://www.latimes.com/local/
The Fallacy of 'Giving Up'
http://www.theatlantic.com/
Nothing prepares you for being the daughter of ageing parents
Nothing prepares you for being the daughter of aging parents
The Right to Die
How we die should be a personal choice, not the government's
https://www.latimes.com/local/
Why Immortality Is Overrated
www.npr.org/sections/health-
Want to Live a More Fulfilled Life? Avoid the Number One Regret of the Dying
The Death and Life of John Shields
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/
111 terminally ill patients took their own lives in first 6 months of California right-to-die law
https://www.latimes.com/local/
An unforeseen benefit of California's physician-assisted death law
https://www.latimes.com/
With teen mental health deteriorating over five years, there’s a likely culprit
Literal death machine offers a way to peacefully slip out of existence
https://thenextweb.com/news/
Your Body is a Teeming Battleground
https://www.theatlantic.com/
Radical ideas: Dying isn’t as bad as you think
https://www.sciencefocus.com/
All-American Despair
For the past two decades, a suicide epidemic fueled by guns, poverty and isolation has swept across the West, with middle-aged men dying in record numbers
https://www.rollingstone.com/
Isolated And Struggling, Many Seniors Are Turning To Suicide
https://www.npr.org/2019/07/
I planned to kill myself at 27 – now I’m 28. Here’s what happened
Suicides and homicides on the rise in young people
https://www.nbcnews.com/
How to Recognize When a Loved One May Be Considering Suicide, and the Best Ways to Help
Your Brain 'Shields' Itself from the Existential Threat of Death
https://www.livescience.com/
Hart Island, New York's public cemetery, prepares for new era, more diverse burials
Experts hope LGBTQ youth will call 988 — a new suicide lifeline number
https://www.washingtonpost.
How to plan a funeral without breaking your budget
https://www.washingtonpost.
Suicide Rates in The US Are Increasing at a Staggering Rate, And No Group Is Protected
https://www.sciencealert.com/
The risk of 'contagion' after suicides is real
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/
Killers without a cause: The rise in nihilistic violent extremism
“The message is there is no message.”
https://www.washingtonpost.
-----
Suicide rate hit 40-year peak among older teen girls in 2015
https://www.wral.com/story/
US suicide rates increased more than 25% since 1999, CDC says
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/
Suicide among teens and young adults reaches highest level since 2000
-----
'I’m Not Happy. I Want to Die.' Australia's Oldest Scientist Will Travel to Switzerland for Assisted Suicide
time.com/5260855/australia-
This 104-year-old plans to die tomorrow – and hopes to change views on assisted suicide
-----
Execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
What happened at the nation's first nitrogen gas execution: An AP eyewitness account
-----
Telling Doctors Not to Resuscitate, by Tattoo
A man collapsed with 'Do Not Resuscitate' tattooed on his chest. Doctors didn't know what to do.
INFORMATIVE WEBSITES
Most Lethal Methods of Suicide
http://lostallhope.com/
Suicide Statistics
https://afsp.org/suicide-
BOOKS
Final Exit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Final Exit Network
https://finalexitnetwork.org/
Final Exit 2020 Digital Edition (PDF)
https://www.finalexit.org/
Final Exit: End of Life Planner
-----
Caitlin Doughty
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory
http://www.amazon.com/Smoke-
From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death
https://www.amazon.com/Here-
Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?: And Other Questions About Dead Bodies
https://www.amazon.com/Will-
-----
Simon Boas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
A Beginner's Guide to Dying
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
A Beginner's Guide to Dying
https://www.amazon.com/
Being Mortal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
-----
Angelo Volandes
https://www.angelovolandes.com
The Conversation
https://www.angelovolandes.
The Conversation
-----
The Leisure Seeker (novel)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
The Leisure Seeker: A Moving Tale of Enduring Love as an Elderly Couple Defies Mortality on the Open Road
https://www.amazon.com/
-----
How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter
Natural Causes: An Epidemic of Wellness, the Certainty of Dying, and Killing Ourselves to Live Longer
https://www.amazon.com/
-----
The Complete Manual of Suicide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
-----
The Peaceful Pill Handbook
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
MOVIES & DOCUMENTARIES
Frontline: The Suicide Plan
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/
You Don't Know Jack (film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Wit (film)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
The Sunset Limited
The Bridge
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Harakiri (1962 film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
‘The Keeper’: Unsubtle story of veteran suicide and a man on a mission
The fact-based drama aims to raise awareness of an epidemic hiding in plain sight.
https://www.washingtonpost.
-----
The Leisure Seeker
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
The Leisure Seeker
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
-----
Ikiru
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Living (2022 film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
-----
Suicide Tourism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
The Suicide Tourist
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/
Suicide Tourist (Right to Die?)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
-----
13 Reasons Why
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Internet searches on suicide went up after ‘13 Reasons Why’ released by Netflix
The fear of Hannah Baker-copycats is not just theoretical
-----
Plan 75
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Plan 75
Imagining a Japan where life ends (voluntarily) at 75
https://www.ekathimerini.com/
Plan 75 Previews
THE SUICIDE PROJECT
The Suicide Project
The Suicide Project: The Helium Hood Method
http://suicideproject.org/
MENTAL ILLNESS
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
https://www.nami.org/About-
bphope
Sleepy Phoenix
https://www.facebook.com/
NEPTUNE/TRIDENT SOCIETY & OTHER ORGANIZATIONS
Neptune Society
http://www.neptunesociety.com/
Trident Cremation Services
http://www.tridentsociety.com/
Modesto Neptune Society
(209) 521-6722
711 Fifth Street
Modesto, CA 95351
Final Exit Network
http://www.finalexitnetwork.
Final Exit Network
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Dignitas
http://www.dignitas.ch/index.
Compassion & Choices
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Death with Dignity National Center
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Death With Dignity
Dignitas (non-profit organization)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Exit International
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Hemlock Society
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Church of Euthanasia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
World Federation of Right to Die Societies
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
SUICIDE PREVENTION ORGANIZATIONS
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
Samaritans
Bipolar Hope (bphope)
Befrienders Worldwide
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
Gun Shop Project
WIKIPEDIA
Views on Suicide
Suicide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Altruistic Suicide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Benevolent Suicide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Copycat Suicide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Suicide Epidemic
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Euthanasia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Suicide Legislation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Philosophy of Suicide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Religious Views on Suicide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Right to Die
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Suicide Crisis
Suicide Crisis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Assessment of Suicide Risk
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Crisis Hotline
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
List of Suicide Crisis Lines
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Suicide Intervention
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Suicide Prevention
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Suicide Watch
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Suicide Types
Assisted Suicide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Bullying and Suicide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Copycat Suicide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Familicide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Forced Suicide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Honor Suicide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Internet Suicide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Mass Suicide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Murder-Suicide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Prisoner Suicide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Suicide Pact
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Suicide Attack
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Suicide Methods
Suicide Methods
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Inert Gas Asphyxiation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Suicide Bag
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Suicide Booth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Euthanasia Device
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Sarco Device
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Suicide Bridge
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Lover's Leap
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Suicide by Hanging
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Suicide by Cop
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Seppuku
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Charcoal-Burning Suicide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Epidemiology
Epidemiology of Suicide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Teenage Suicide in the United States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Youth Suicide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Suicide among Native Americans in the United States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Suicide Among LGBT Youth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Gender Differences in Suicide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
List of Countries by Suicide Rate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Google Search: Male Suicide
https://www.google.com/search?
History
History of Suicide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
List of Suicides
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Suicide in Antiquity
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
List of Suicides in the 21st Century
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
In Warfare
Suicide Attack
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Suicide Mission
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Banzai Charge
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Kamikaze
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Related Phenomena
Suicide Attempt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
List of Suicide Sites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Suicidal Ideation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Self-Harm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Suicide Note
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Suicide Terminology
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
By Country
Suicide in the United States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Assisted suicide in the United States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Euthanasia in the United States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Organizations
Final Exit Network
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
World Federation of Right to Die Societies
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Compassion & Choices
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Death with Dignity National Center
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Death With Dignity
Dignitas (non-profit organization)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Exit International
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Hemlock Society
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Church of Euthanasia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Miscellaneous Articles
Final Exit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
End-of-life care
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Death anxiety
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Voluntary Euthanasia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Euthanasia Device
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Asphyxia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Lethal Injection
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Terminal Illness
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Advance Healthcare Directive
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Do Not Resuscitate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Hippocratic Oath
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Suicide Tourism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Advocacy of Suicide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Five stages of grief
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
GOOGLE SEARCHES
Google Search: Final Exit
Google Images: Final Exit
Google Videos: Final Exit
Google Search: Death and Dying
Google Images: Death and Dying
Google Videos: Death and Dying
UNITED STATES
Assisted suicide in the United States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Medical Aid in Dying in the United States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Hospice care in the United States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
OREGON
How to Die in Oregon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
1994 Oregon Ballot Measure 16
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
CALIFORNIA
California End of Life Option Act
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
End of Life Option Act
https://www.cdph.ca.gov/
End of Life Option Act Provides Comfort and Relief to Californians
https://deathwithdignity.org/
End of Life Option Act
https://coalitionccc.org/
111 terminally ill patients took their own lives in first 6 months of California right-to-die law
www.latimes.com/local/lanow/
An unforeseen benefit of California's physician-assisted death law
https://www.latimes.com/
SWITZERLAND
'Going to Switzerland' Is a Euphemism for Assisted Suicide
http://www.theatlantic.com/
'I’m Not Happy. I Want to Die.' Australia's Oldest Scientist Will Travel to Switzerland for Assisted Suicide
time.com/5260855/australia-
Swiss Law
Under Swiss law, a person with “commendable motives” may not cause another person’s death, and a person with “selfish motives” may not assist in the death; but the law does not forbid a person with “commendable motives” from assisting someone in taking their own life.
The law states:
Any person who for commendable motives, and in particular out of compassion for the victim, causes the death of a person at that person’s own genuine and insistent request is liable to a custodial sentence not exceeding three years or to a monetary penalty.
Any person who for selfish motives incites or assists another to commit or attempt to commit suicide is, if that other person thereafter commits or attempts to commit suicide, liable to a custodial sentence not exceeding five years or to a monetary penalty.
CANADA
Euthanasia in Canada (MAID – Medical Assistance in Dying)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Opinion: Canada, there’s still time to rethink this risky expansion of euthanasia
https://www.washingtonpost.
MAID – Medical Assistance in Dying
JACK KEVORKIAN
Jack Kevorkian
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Google Search: Jack Kevorkian
Google Images: Jack Kevorkian
Google Images: The Art of Jack Kevorkian
CAITLIN DOUGHTY
Caitlin Doughty
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Website
The Order of the Good Death
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory
http://www.amazon.com/Smoke-
From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death
https://www.amazon.com/Here-
Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?: And Other Questions About Dead Bodies
https://www.amazon.com/Will-
BRITTANY MAYNARD
Brittany Maynard
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
How to Die in Oregon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
1994 Oregon Ballot Measure 16
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Brittany Maynard, ‘Death With Dignity’ Ally, Dies at 29
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/
How Brittany Maynard renewed debate on ethics of right to die movement
Why Newlywed Brittany Maynard Is Ending Her Life in Three Weeks
Beyond Brittany: Assisted Suicides Happen in Every State, Insiders Say
Death With Dignity Advocate Brittany Maynard Dies in Oregon
Brittany Maynard, Advocate for Death With Dignity, Ends Her Life
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/
Brittany Maynard, as promised, ends her life at 29
Google Search: Brittany Maynard
ALAN WATTS
Alan Watts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
In October 1973, Watts returned from a European lecture tour to his cabin in Druid Heights, California. Friends and relatives of Watts had been concerned about him for some time over his alcoholism. On 16 November 1973, at age 58, he died in the Mandala House in Druid Heights. His body was discovered at 6:00 a.m. and quickly cremated on a wood pyre on Muir Beach at 8:30 a.m. by Buddhist monks before any authorities could attend to the scene. His ashes were split, with half buried near his library at Druid Heights and half at the Green Gulch Monastery.
Alan Watts was reported to have been under treatment for a heart condition. His son Mark Watts later investigated his father's death and found that he had planned it out meticulously. Mary Jane Watts later wrote that Watts had told her, "The secret of life is knowing when to stop". Watts's father, Laurence Wilson Watts, died in 1974, just one year after his son. A personal account of Watts's last years and approach to death is given by Al Chung-liang Huang in Watts' posthumous work Tao: The Watercourse Way.
ANTHONY BOURDAIN
Anthony Bourdain
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
CNN's Anthony Bourdain dead at 61
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/
Heroin, depression, and getting sober: Anthony Bourdain was always open about battling demons
Anthony Bourdain, CNN host and celebrity chef, cause of death revealed
Anthony Bourdain was ‘regularly suicidal’ after end of first marriage
https://pagesix.com/2018/06/
The troubling signs leading up to Anthony Bourdain’s suicide
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Anthony Bourdain on New Jersey and why his show stands out in one of his last interviews
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QUOTES ON DEATH AND SUICIDE
BrainyQuotes: Suicide
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BrainyQuotes: Suicidal Quotes
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BrainyQuote: Jack Kevorkian
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People do not die for us immediately, but remain bathed in a sort of aura of life which bears no relation to true immortality but through which they continue to occupy our thoughts in the same way as when they were alive. It is as though they were traveling abroad ~ Marcel Proust
Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom ~ Marcel Proust
They tell us that suicide is the greatest piece of cowardice ... that suicide is wrong; when it is quite obvious that there is nothing in the world to which every man has a more unassailable title than to his own life and person ~ Arthur Schopenhauer
Just as I shall select my ship when I am about to go on a voyage, or my house when I propose to take a residence, so I shall choose my death when I am about to depart from life ~ Seneca
There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide ~ Albert Camus
The secret of life is knowing when to stop ~ Alan Watts
Am I a criminal? The world knows I'm not a criminal. What are they trying to put me in jail for? You've lost common sense in this society because of religious fanaticism and dogma ~ Jack Kevorkian
No law can give or take away the choice to commit suicide ~ Maggie Gallagher
I want to go when I want. It is tasteless to prolong life artificially. I have done my share, it is time to go. I will do it elegantly ~ Albert Einstein (Last words after refusing surgery, on 18th April 1955)
It is always consoling to think of suicide: in that way one gets through many a bad night ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
Suicide is man's way of telling God, 'You can't fire me - I quit.' ~ Bill Maher
Suicide sometimes proceeds from cowardice, but not always; for cowardice sometimes prevents it; since as many live because they are afraid to die, as die because they are afraid to live ~ Charles Caleb Colton
Patients who are being kept alive by technology and want to end their lives already have a recognized constitutional right to stop any and all medical interventions, from respirators to antibiotics. They do not need physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia ~ Ezekiel Emanuel
When one realizes that his life is worthless he either commits suicide or travels ~ Edward Dahlberg
I think suicide is the most perfect thing you can do in life ~ Damien Hirst
The flip side of suicide is that it leaves a lingering question in the minds of the people who survived. It's like a cancer that's metastasized. The suicide is the cancer and the metastasis is all these people saying, Why? Why? Why? ~ Abraham Verghese
No one ever lacks a good reason for suicide ~ Cesare Pavese
That's the thing about suicide. Try as you might to remember how a person lived his life, you always end up thinking about how he ended it ~ Anderson Cooper
There is something great and terrible about suicide ~ Honore de Balzac
Hope is a necessity for normal life and the major weapon against the suicide impulse ~ Karl A. Menninger
Americans tend to endorse the use of physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia when the question is abstract and hypothetical ~ Ezekiel Emanuel
For many centuries, suicides were treated like criminals by the society. That is part of the terrible legacy that has come down into society's method of handling suicide recovery. Now we have to fight off the demons that have been hanging around suicide for centuries ~ Judy Collins
What makes life worth living? Better surely, to yield to the stain of suicide blood in me and seek forgetfulness in the embrace of cold dark death ~ Zane Grey
The suicide arrives at the conclusion that what he is seeking does not exist; the seeker concludes that what he has not yet looked in the right place ~ Paul Watzlawick
The best I can say is that it's better for me to write about despair and darkness than to be incapable of getting off the sofa. It's better to write about suicide than to contemplate it too heavily ~ Paul Westerberg
Suicide doesn't solve your problems. It only makes them infinitely, un-countably worse ~ Sinead O'Connor
One of my favorite movies of all time is 'It's A Wonderful Life,' which is a pretty interesting choice for a seasonal Christmas favorite, because it's about a guy who wants to commit suicide and is presented with reasons not to ~ Frank Darabont
I would be going until I went over the bounds of reality and was then caught up in a profound wish to be dead without having to go through the shaming defeat of suicide ~ Joshua Logan
Just as with homicide, those in the 'passion' category of suicide are much more likely to turn to whatever means are immediately available - those that are easy and quick ~ Scott Anderson
It wasn't until '94 when I tried to commit suicide that I realized that it wasn't about the money ~ Vanilla Ice
I don't think Jimi committed suicide in the conventional way. He just decided to exit when he wanted to ~ Eric Burdon
Suicide is not an answer, it's destruction ~ Al Green
Would Hamlet have felt the delicious fascination of suicide if he hadn't had an audience, and lines to speak? ~ Jean Genet
I don't persuade to suicide ~ Jack Kevorkian
The woman poet must be either a sexless, reclusive eccentric, with nothing to say specifically to women, or a brilliant, tragic, tortured suicide ~ Marilyn Hacker
In the case of the Japanese, they usually commit suicide before they make any apology ~ Chuck Grassley
The counterpart of the suicide is the seeker; but the difference between them is slight ~ Paul Watzlawick
I have a suicide impulse ~ Hal Holbrook
My mother's suicide attempts were a way to release anxiety and get attention. Some of the attempts were drug reactions she didn't even remember later on ~ Lorna Luft
The idea of suicide is of a very set narrative, as if killing yourself is a definitive statement. But it can be just as meaningless as throwing a stone in a river ~ Denise Mina
I was darkly convinced that at age 52 I would kill myself because my mother committed suicide at that age. I was fantasizing that she was waiting for me on the other side of the grave ~ Spalding Gray
Should l go on playing bridge and dining, going in the same old monotonous circle? It's easy that way, but it's a sort of suicide, too ~ Antoinette Perry
I look upon indolence as a sort of suicide; for the man is effectually destroyed, though the appetites of the brute may survive ~ Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
If you want your writing to be taken seriously, don't marry and have kids, and above all, don't die. But if you have to die, commit suicide. They approve of that ~ Ursula K. Le Guin
We can consciously end our life almost anytime we choose. This ability is an endowment, like laughing and blushing, given to no other animal ... in any given moment, by not exercising the option of suicide, we are choosing to live ~ Peter McWilliams
Suicide is not cheating death;
Only taking a hand in how it will happen,
Rather than lingering for a more tedious, painful finale.
Charon still earns his obol for yet another voyage across the river Styx.
~ Michael Holshouser, The Ponderings of Yaj Ekim
How pathetic will You allow your time to become, just to live as long as possible?
To abandon the saddle You have ridden the majority of your existence,
Just to survive a few measly days longer in a hospital bed,
In a brightly lit room, orbited by technology,
With tubes in all your orifices,
Barely conscious of anything or anyone,
Why in any god’s name, would You endure such an end?
~ Michael Holshouser, Breadcrumbs 2022
Fear death? Well, You will endure it however it comes; You have no choice.
So it sayeth in the teensy-tiny print, You did not well-scrutinize on the unwritten contract.
Only if You choose to give your Self a tranquil, painless end – inert gas asphyxiation is recommended –
Will You have any say in the most assuredly inevitable, genomically-induced, departure.
~ Michael Holshouser, Breadcrumbs 2023
My Darling Anne, There's a longer letter in the dresser drawer I've been writing for the last week or so, that one covers us, and my memories of us, and how much I've always loved you. This one just covers tonight, and more importantly, today. Tonight I have gone out to the horses to end it. I cannot say sorry for the act itself, although I know for a short time you will be angry at me, or even hate me for it. Please don't. This is not a case of, I came in this world alone and I'm goin' out of it alone, or anything dumb like that. I did not come in this world alone, my mom was there. And I am not goin' out of it alone, 'cause you were there, drunk on the couch, making Oscar Wilde cock jokes. No, this is a case, in some senses, of bravery. Not the bravery of facing a bullet down. The next few months of pain would be far harder than that small flash. No, it's the bravery of weighing up the next few months of still being with you, still waking up with you, of playing with the kids ... Against the next few months of seeing in your eyes how much my pain is killing you. How my weakened body, as it ebbs away, and you tend to it, are your final and lasting memories of me. I won't have that. Your final memories of me will be us at the riverside, and that dumb fishing game, which I think they cheated at. And me inside of you, and you on top of me ... And barely a fleeting thought, of the darkness yet to come. That was the best Anne. A whooole day of not thinking about it. Dwell on this day baby, 'cause it was the best day of my life. Kiss the girls for me, and know that I've always loved you ... And maybe I'll see ya again if there's another place, and if there ain't ... Well, it's been heaven knowing you. Your Boy, Bill ~ Bill Willoughby (Woody Harrelson), Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
