British -born journalist Derek Hanfrey died. The experience of helping his life of his last -term symptoms ended his life was a pioneer in the right movement to die, and triggered the publishing of the best -selling suicide guide, Final Igujit. 94 years old in Eugene, Oregon, on January 2.
His death was announced by his family at Hospice facilities.
Hanfrey, who has a talented sense of a populist sense and a simple story about death, is a nationwide nationwide about assisting doctors in the early 1980s, when the idea of a doctor was only difficult to assist suicide by a doctor. The topic was lively. This theory is discussed by medical ethics.
Ian Dowgin, a professor of Prince Edward Island University and the author of the Simple History of Euthanas: Life, Death, God, and Medical Science, said, “He actually puts this cause on the American map. He was a person. ” (2005). “The people who support the concept of assisting suicide by a doctor are absolutely grateful to him.”
In 1975, when his wife, Jean Humphrey, was in the final stage of the terminal cancer, Hanfrey was a reporter on the Sunday Times in London. She wanted to avoid prolonged suffering, and asked him to help him die.
Humphrey obtained a painful medicine from a sympathetic physician and mixed with coffee with his favorite mug.
“I brought her a mug and said that if I drank it, I would die as soon as I drank it,” said Hanfrey, Daily Records in Scotland. “Then I hugged her, kissed, and said goodbye.”
In “Jean's Way” (1979), Hanfrey recorded an emotional and legal tracking in taboo to his wife's sudden death. This book was published in newspapers around the world, causing sensation. The reader sent a letter to the editor about the suffering of a loved one. Many wrote a letter directly to Mr. Hanfrey.
“I wish I had a solution like you,” wrote a woman and described her last eight weeks as “fear.” “How beautiful it is, how much love is? We did what was forced by others and experienced the terrible “death” given by the medical community extending in every way. “
Some readers begged in the letter to give instructions to help loved ones. This triggered Hanfrey, who was remarried at the time and worked as a reporter for the Los Angeles Times in California, began to assist suicide and establish an organization that defends the end -of -life rights of terminal patients.
His second wife, Ann Wicket Hanfrey, claims that “most Americans are associated with this word, a person who talked about Socrates's death, or death.” He wrote in the latest version of “” later that he suggested that he would use it. Jeansway. “
In August 1980, they rented the Los Angeles Reporter Club to establish the Hemrock Association, and worked on Santa Monica's home garage.
The organization has grown rapidly. In 1981, he issued a guide on drugs and dosage to promote “peaceful self -release” “Please die before waking up.” The organization also worked on the state parliament to enact laws to assist suicide. In 1990, the Hemlock Association moved to Eugene. At that time, the number of members exceeded 30,000, but the debate on the right to die had not yet reached most of the United States.
In 1991, the situation changed dramatically after Hanfrey published “The Last Exit: Practice of Self -Liberation and Suicide for Death”. The book was a step -by -step guide on page 192, providing hints to escape gracefully like Miss Manners in addition to the description of suicide methods.
“Unfortunately, if you have to end your life at a hospital or motel, it's kind to leave a note to the staff for shock and annoying,” he wrote. I've heard that the motel staff left a lot of chips. “
The book was in the first place in the hardcover advice category of the New York Times's best -selling list.
In 1991, Dr. Arthur Cerrin, a biopsy ethicist, told the Times, saying, “This is now indicating how great the euthanasian problem is as a problem in our society.” 。 This is the most vocalistic statement of how medical care is dealing with terminal illness and death. “
The reaction to the “final withdrawal” was generally divided into ideology. The conservatives blamed it violently.
“What can I say about this new” book “? In a nutshell, it's” evil, “” Leon R. R. Kas, a biological ethics of the University of Chicago, wrote in a commentary magazine and said, “Executive death penalty execution. “People”. “I didn't want to read it, I don't want you to read it. I should never be written, and I wasn't qualified to be dignified in reviews.”
However, although public health experts have expressed concern that the methods described in this book could be used by depression patients who are not end -stage symptoms, this book. Supported the book.
“I read the” Last Exit “with interest, but I will leave it for another reason. I once nursing cancer patients and I can imagine that someday I want to use this book. That's it, “said the New York Times Columnist Anna Quindren. “If that day comes, it's actually, besides me and my beloved people?”
Rather than worrying about the contents of the book, Mr. Qulydren said, “You should look for a way to obtain a dignified death in places other than the chain bookstore of the shopping mall.”
Derek John Humphrey was born on April 29, 1930 in a British birth. His father, Reiston Martin Hanfrey, was a patrol salesman. His mother, Betine (Dagan), was a fashion model before getting married.
After graduating from school at the age of 15, Derek worked as a newspaper delivery. The following year, Bristol Evening World hired him as a reporter. He moved to the Sunday Times in London and the Los Angeles Times after serving as a reporter in Manchester Evening News and Daily Mail.
Before looking at a book about death, Hanfrey wrote “Because they are black” (1971), with black social worker Gas John. “Police power and blacks” depicting the racism and corruption of Scotlandyard (1972).
Hanfrey was a polarized person in the dying right movement.
In 1990, he and Ms. Wiki Hanfrey divorced and fought violently in the news media. She called him a “scammer” and accused him of being diagnosed with cancer. Hanfrey denied allegations.
“This was a very unstable marriage,” he told the New York Times in 1990. “This is very painful, as terrible as Jean's death. I have lost my house. I live in the motel for three months.”
Ms. Wiki Hanfrey committed suicide in October 1991.
In a video recorded the day before, she expressed anxiety about the work I went with, helping my parents to finish my life at home.
“We both thought we were murderers and left the house,” she said on the video. This video was confirmed by Times.
Hanfrey told the Times that he entered the “Damage Control” mode. He posted an advertisement on a half -page page in the newspaper that explains his story.
According to the advertisement, “Sadly, Ann was suffering from emotional problems in most of his life,” he added, saying, “Suicide for depression was not part of the Hemlock family's creed.” 。
The reservations of Weket Hanfrey's death and the dying rights movement have caused tension within the Hemrock Association. In 1992, Hanfrey resigned to the secretary -general and established the euthanasian research leader.
The Hemlock Association ultimately split into several new groups, including the Final Igujit Network, which Hanfrey cooperated with.
He married Gretchen Crock in 1991. She survived with his three sons born in his first marriage. Three grandchildren. And one grandson is one.
Lorley Brown, who helps the death of the late patient in the final Igujit network, in an interview, gave Hanfrey and the “Final Igujit” to end his life. He sometimes believed.
“It was the Hemlock Association and the” Last Exit “that actually exceeded the limits of incorporating the living room of the general American as the theme of the debate,” Brown said. “You can talk about that at the Thanksgiving dinner seat.”
If you are thinking of suicide, send a phone or text message to the 988 to contact the suicide and crisis lifeline, or access SpeakingofsuiCide.com/ResourceS to check the additional resources list.
