Derek Humphry
Encyclopedia
Derek Humphry is a British-born American journalist, author and principal founder in 1980 of the Hemlock Society USA
and past president of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies
, both of which support the notion of decriminalisation of voluntary euthanasia. He is the author of Jean's Way
and the best-seller Final Exit
; he is also the president of the Euthanasia Research & Guidance Organization and advisor to the Final Exit Network
. He lives in Junction City, Oregon
.
. In a 30-year journalistic career Humphry worked and wrote for the Bristol Evening World, the Manchester Evening News
, the Daily Mail
, the Sunday Times
and, lastly, the Los Angeles Times
.
Humphry wrote the 1991 suicide handbook, Final Exit
. From 1993 onwards Humphry has been president of the Euthanasia Research & Guidance Organization (ERGO), and chairs the advisory board of the new Final Exit Network
(formed 2004 to replace the Hemlock Society dissolved the previous year in mergers).
His marriage to his next wife, Ann Wickett, an American and a co-founder of the Hemlock Society
, ended in 1989 when she filed for divorce; they had no children. Ann Wickett committed suicide, at the age of 49 on 2 October 1991, during a recurrence of depression and Borderline Personality Disorder. She had been battling breast cancer, but the cancer was in remission and she was not considered "terminally ill". In her suicide note, she claimed that Humphry was a "killer" and that his first wife, Jean, had died of suffocation.
In early 1991 Humphry married Gretchen Crocker, youngest daughter of an Oregon farming family.
by virtue of his past presidency and in appreciation of his 26 years of involvement with that organisation. Since it was founded in 2004, Humphry has been an adviser to the Final Exit Network
. After four members of the organisation were accused in Georgia of assisting a suicide he launched the Final Exit Liberty Fund.
for a number of years.
As of 2011, the paperback Final Exit was in print in English, Spanish and Italian. It has sold more than one million copies in twelve languages. In April 2007 the editors and book critics of USA Today
selected Final Exit as one of the most memorable 25 books of the last quarter century. In 2008 he completed his autobiography, Good Life, Good Death: Memoir of an Investigative Reporter and Pro-choice Advocate (ISBN 978-0-9768283-3-4).
Hemlock Society
The Hemlock Society USA was a national right-to-die organization founded in Santa Monica, California by Derek Humphry in 1980. Its primary missions included providing information to dying persons and supporting legislation permitting physician-assisted suicide. In 1992, following the publication of...
and past president of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies
World Federation of Right to Die Societies
The World Federation of Right to Die Societies is an international federation of associations that promote access to voluntary euthanasia.It is made up of 46 associations from 27 countries. It holds regular international meetings on dying and death....
, both of which support the notion of decriminalisation of voluntary euthanasia. He is the author of Jean's Way
Jean's Way
Jean's Way: A Love Story, a book by Derek Humphry, is an account of Humphry's terminally ill wife's planned self-deliverance from suffering. The book is Derek Humphry's first book on the issue of voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide.- Overview:...
and the best-seller Final Exit
Final Exit
Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying is a controversial 1992 book by Derek Humphry, founder of the Hemlock Society in California and past president of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies....
; he is also the president of the Euthanasia Research & Guidance Organization and advisor to the Final Exit Network
Final Exit Network
The Final Exit Network is an American all-volunteer organization that offers counseling, support, and guidance in a successful suicide to individuals who are suffering from an intolerable illness. The organization believes that individuals suffering from intolerable illnesses deserve a dignified...
. He lives in Junction City, Oregon
Junction City, Oregon
Junction City is a city in Lane County, Oregon, United States. The population was 5,392 at the 2010 census.- History :In the 1870s, Junction City was named by railroad magnate Ben Holladay, who decided this would be where the rail line on the east side of the Willamette Valley would meet the rail...
.
Early years
Born to a British father and an Irish mother, he was raised in Somerset. His education was slender because of a broken home followed by World War II, when many English schools were in chaos, finally leaving at the age of 15, when he became a messenger boy for the Yorkshire PostYorkshire Post
The Yorkshire Post is a daily broadsheet newspaper, published in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England by Yorkshire Post Newspapers, a company owned by Johnston Press...
. In a 30-year journalistic career Humphry worked and wrote for the Bristol Evening World, the Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
The Manchester Evening News is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in the United Kingdom. It is published every day except Sunday and is owned by Trinity Mirror plc following its sale by Guardian Media Group in early 2010. It has an average daily circulation of 90,973 copies...
, the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
, the Sunday Times
The Sunday Times (UK)
The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...
and, lastly, the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
.
Personal life
His first wife, Jean Humphry, ended her life on 29 March 1975, in The Cotswolds with her husband at her side, with an intentional overdose of medication; she was suffering from terminal breast cancer. He told that story from his perspective in the best-selling Jean's Way. Derek and Jean Humphry had three sons, the youngest one an adoptee.Humphry wrote the 1991 suicide handbook, Final Exit
Final Exit
Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying is a controversial 1992 book by Derek Humphry, founder of the Hemlock Society in California and past president of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies....
. From 1993 onwards Humphry has been president of the Euthanasia Research & Guidance Organization (ERGO), and chairs the advisory board of the new Final Exit Network
Final Exit Network
The Final Exit Network is an American all-volunteer organization that offers counseling, support, and guidance in a successful suicide to individuals who are suffering from an intolerable illness. The organization believes that individuals suffering from intolerable illnesses deserve a dignified...
(formed 2004 to replace the Hemlock Society dissolved the previous year in mergers).
His marriage to his next wife, Ann Wickett, an American and a co-founder of the Hemlock Society
Hemlock Society
The Hemlock Society USA was a national right-to-die organization founded in Santa Monica, California by Derek Humphry in 1980. Its primary missions included providing information to dying persons and supporting legislation permitting physician-assisted suicide. In 1992, following the publication of...
, ended in 1989 when she filed for divorce; they had no children. Ann Wickett committed suicide, at the age of 49 on 2 October 1991, during a recurrence of depression and Borderline Personality Disorder. She had been battling breast cancer, but the cancer was in remission and she was not considered "terminally ill". In her suicide note, she claimed that Humphry was a "killer" and that his first wife, Jean, had died of suffocation.
In early 1991 Humphry married Gretchen Crocker, youngest daughter of an Oregon farming family.
Affiliations
Humphry is an advisor to the World Federation of Right to Die SocietiesWorld Federation of Right to Die Societies
The World Federation of Right to Die Societies is an international federation of associations that promote access to voluntary euthanasia.It is made up of 46 associations from 27 countries. It holds regular international meetings on dying and death....
by virtue of his past presidency and in appreciation of his 26 years of involvement with that organisation. Since it was founded in 2004, Humphry has been an adviser to the Final Exit Network
Final Exit Network
The Final Exit Network is an American all-volunteer organization that offers counseling, support, and guidance in a successful suicide to individuals who are suffering from an intolerable illness. The organization believes that individuals suffering from intolerable illnesses deserve a dignified...
. After four members of the organisation were accused in Georgia of assisting a suicide he launched the Final Exit Liberty Fund.
Books and publications
Humphry was newsletter editor for the World Federation of Right to Die SocietiesWorld Federation of Right to Die Societies
The World Federation of Right to Die Societies is an international federation of associations that promote access to voluntary euthanasia.It is made up of 46 associations from 27 countries. It holds regular international meetings on dying and death....
for a number of years.
As of 2011, the paperback Final Exit was in print in English, Spanish and Italian. It has sold more than one million copies in twelve languages. In April 2007 the editors and book critics of USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
selected Final Exit as one of the most memorable 25 books of the last quarter century. In 2008 he completed his autobiography, Good Life, Good Death: Memoir of an Investigative Reporter and Pro-choice Advocate (ISBN 978-0-9768283-3-4).
Derek Humphry bibliography
- Because They're Black (1972) (awarded the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize)
- Police Power and Black People (1973)
- Passport and Politics (1974)
- The Cricket Conspiracy (1975) (ISBN 0-901108-40-5)
- False Messiah: The Story of Michael X (1976)
- Jean's Way: A Love StoryJean's WayJean's Way: A Love Story, a book by Derek Humphry, is an account of Humphry's terminally ill wife's planned self-deliverance from suffering. The book is Derek Humphry's first book on the issue of voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide.- Overview:...
(1978) ISBN 0-9637280-7-5 - The Right to Die: Understanding Euthanasia (1986) (ISBN 0-9606030-9-3)
- Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the DyingFinal ExitFinal Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying is a controversial 1992 book by Derek Humphry, founder of the Hemlock Society in California and past president of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies....
(1991, updated 2002, 3rd edition) (ISBN 0-385-33653-5) - Lawful Exit: The Limits of Freedom for Help in Dying (1993) (ISBN 0-9637280-0-8)
- Dying with Dignity (1992) (ISBN 0-517-14342-9)
- Freedom to Die: People, Politics & The Right-To-Die Movement (1998) (ISBN 0-9637280-1-6)
- Let Me Die Before I Wake (& Supplement to Final Exit; 2002) (ISBN 1-4011-0286-7)
- The Good Euthanasia Guide: Where, What & Who in Choices in Dying (2006) (ISBN 0-9637280-8-3)
See also
- EuthanasiaEuthanasiaEuthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....
- George ExooGeorge ExooGeorge Exoo is an Ohio-born former Unitarian Universalist minister and assisted suicide activist. He was originally a Methodist and has a doctorate in music history from University of California, Berkeley...
- Jack KevorkianJack KevorkianJacob "Jack" Kevorkian , commonly known as "Dr. Death", was an American pathologist, euthanasia activist, painter, composer and instrumentalist. He is best known for publicly championing a terminal patient's right to die via physician-assisted suicide; he said he assisted at least 130 patients to...
- Philip NitschkePhilip NitschkeDr. Philip Nitschke is an Australian medical doctor, humanist, author and founder and director of the pro-euthanasia group Exit International. He campaigned successfully to have a legal euthanasia law passed in Australia's Northern Territory and assisted four people in ending their lives before...
- Euthanasia (ukr)