Final Exit

Final Exit (fully titled Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying) 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 USA in hardback. Next year its 2nd edition was published by Dell in trade paperback. The current updated edition was published in 2010.[1]

Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying
AuthorDerek Humphry
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SubjectSelf-euthanasia
PublisherDell
Publication date
March 1, 1991
Media typePrint
Pages213
ISBN0-440-50488-0
OCLC26465758
Preceded byJean's Way 

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 of 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 25th on USA Today's April 2007 list of 25 books that leave a legacy.[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' has been released as an Ebook.

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

References in pop culture
  • Industrial metal band Fear Factory uses quotes from Humphry's video in the last track, "Final Exit", of their seventh studio album Mechanize.
  • 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 this book while in bed.
  • In episode 6 of the first season of The Powers That Be (1992), Theodore Van Horne (David Hyde Pierce) reads this book in bed ticking off the methods he's tried.
  • Bill Hicks incorporated this book in 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 a 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.[14]
  • In the novel All My Puny Sorrows, suicidal Elfrieda orders a copy of this 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)[15]
  • 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.

See also

References
  1. Book page at FinalExit.org
  2. Helium, hoods used by assisted suicide group
  3. Suicide Book Stirring Controversy And Sales
  4. The Volunteers Who Help People End Their Own Lives
  5. Kill Me Now: The Troubled Life And Complicated Death Of Jana Van Voorhis
  6. How-To Book on Suicide Is Atop Best-Seller List
  7. Questions---Answers
  8. 25 books the leave a legacy
  9. ‘Final Exit’ book updated for 2010
  10. Final Exit VHS
  11. Final Exit on DVD
  12. Final Exit Digital Edition
  13. Singer, Peter (6 April 2001). "Peter Singer's top 10 books". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
  14. Huff (TV series)
  15. The Treatment page 105
  • Docker, Chris "Five Last Acts II and The Exit Path"
  • Humphry, Derek (1991). Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying. ISBN 0-9606030-3-4.
  • Humphry, Derek (2000). Supplement to Final Exit. ISBN 978-0-9637280-3-6
  • Humphry, Derek (2002). Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying, 3rd edition. ISBN 0-385-33653-5. Delta Trade Paperback. Revised and updated.
  • Humphry, Derek (2002). Let Me Die Before I Wake & Supplement to Final Exit. ISBN 978-1-4011-0286-9
  • Humphry, Derek (2008) Good Life, Good Death: Memoir of an investigative reporter and pro-choice advocate. Hardcopy and eBook. ISBN 978-0-9768283-3-4
  • Smith, Dinitia (January 6, 1992). The Happy Hawker: Tyro Publisher Steven Schragis's Genius for Promoting Schlock. New York Magazine. 25. pp. 40–46. ISSN 0028-7369.
  • Sutherland, John (2008) Curiosities of Literature
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