{"id":1631,"date":"2025-01-24T23:33:13","date_gmt":"2025-01-24T23:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/derek-humphry-pivotal-figure-in-right-to-die-movement-dies-at-94\/"},"modified":"2025-01-24T23:33:13","modified_gmt":"2025-01-24T23:33:13","slug":"derek-humphry-pivotal-figure-in-right-to-die-movement-dies-at-94","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/derek-humphry-pivotal-figure-in-right-to-die-movement-dies-at-94\/","title":{"rendered":"Derek Humphry, Pivotal Figure in Right-to-Die Movement, Dies at 94"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Derek Humphry, a British-born journalist whose experience helping his terminally-ill wife end her life led him to become a crusading pioneer in the right-to-die movement and publish \u201cFinal Exit,\u201d a best-selling guide to suicide, died on Jan. 2 in Eugene, Ore. He was 94.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">His death, at a hospice facility, was announced by his family.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">With a populist flair and a knack for speaking matter-of-factly about death, Mr. Humphry almost single-handedly galvanized a national conversation about physician-assisted suicide in the early 1980s, a period when the idea had been little more than an esoteric theory batted around by medical ethicists.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cHe was the one who really put this cause on the map in America,\u201d said Ian Dowbiggin, a professor at the University of Prince Edward Island and the author of <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/rowman.com\/ISBN\/9780742531116\/A-Concise-History-of-Euthanasia-Life-Death-God-and-Medicine\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cA Concise History of Euthanasia: Life, Death, God, and Medicine\u201d<\/a> (2005). \u201cThe people who support the notion of physician assisted suicide absolutely owe him a big thanks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In 1975, Mr. Humphry was working as a reporter for The Sunday Times of London when Jean Humphry, his wife of 22 years, was in the final stages of terminal bone cancer. Hoping to avoid prolonged suffering, she asked him to help her die.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Humphry procured a lethal dose of painkillers from a sympathetic doctor and mixed them with coffee in her favorite mug.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI took her the mug and told her if she drank it she\u2019d die immediately,\u201d Mr. Humphry told The Daily Record in Scotland. \u201cThen I gave her a hug, kissed her and we said our goodbyes.\u201d<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"imageblock-wrapper\">\n<figure class=\"img-sz-small css-1189og3 e1g7ppur0\" aria-label=\"media\" role=\"group\"><figcaption data-testid=\"photoviewer-children-caption\" class=\"css-13ytnnu ewdxa0s0\"><span class=\"css-jevhma e13ogyst0\">A 2003 paperback edition of a 1979 book by Mr. Humphry in which he chronicled the emotional and legally-fraught pursuit of his first wife\u2019s hastened death.<\/span><span class=\"css-14fe1uy e1z0qqy90\"><span class=\"css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0\">Credit&#8230;<\/span><span><span aria-hidden=\"false\">Norris Lane Press<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Humphry chronicled the emotional, taboo and legally-fraught pursuit of his wife\u2019s hastened death in \u201cJean\u2019s Way\u201d (1979). The book, excerpted in newspapers around the world, was a sensation. Readers sent letters to the editor discussing the suffering of their loved ones. Many wrote directly to Mr. Humphry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI wish we had a solution like yours,\u201d a woman wrote, describing her husband\u2019s last eight weeks of life as \u201ca horror.\u201d \u201cHow much more beautiful, how much more \u2018love.\u2019 We did what others forced us to do and experienced that dreadful \u2018death\u2019 the medical world gives by prolonging life in every possible way.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In their letters, some readers pleaded for instructions to help their loved ones die. That prompted Mr. Humphry, by then remarried and working in California for The Los Angeles Times, to think about creating an organization to advocate for assisted suicide and end-of-life rights for the terminally ill.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ann Wickett Humphry, his second wife, suggested using Hemlock as a title, \u201carguing that most Americans associate the word with the death of Socrates, a man who discussed and planned his death,\u201d Mr. Humphry later wrote in an updated edition of \u201cJean\u2019s Way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In August 1980, they rented the Los Angeles Press Club to announce the establishment of the Hemlock Society, which they ran out of the garage of their Santa Monica home.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The organization grew quickly. In 1981, it issued \u201cLet Me Die Before I Wake,\u201d a guide to medicines and dosages for inducing \u201cpeaceful self-deliverance.\u201d The group also lobbied state legislatures to enact laws making assisted suicide legal. In 1990, the Hemlock Society moved to Eugene. By then, it had more than 30,000 members, but the right-to-die conversation hadn\u2019t yet reached most dinner tables in America.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That changed spectacularly in 1991, after Mr. Humphry published \u201cFinal Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying.\u201d The book was a 192-page step-by-step guide that, in addition to explaining suicide methods, provided Miss Manners-like tips for exiting gracefully.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIf you are unfortunately obliged to end your life in a hospital or motel,\u201d he wrote, \u201cit is gracious to leave a note apologizing for the shock and inconvenience to the staff. I have also heard of an individual leaving a generous tip to a motel staff.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The book shot quickly to No. 1 in the hardcover advice category of The New York Times Best Sellers list.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThat is an indication of how large the issue of euthanasia looms in our society now,\u201d the bioethicist Dr. Arthur Caplan <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1991\/08\/09\/us\/how-to-book-on-suicide-is-atop-best-seller-list.html\" title=\"\">told<\/a> The Times in 1991. \u201cIt is frightening and disturbing, and that kind of sales figure is a shot across the bow. It is the loudest statement of protest of how medicine is dealing with terminal illness and dying.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Reactions to \u201cFinal Exit\u201d were generally divided along ideological lines. Conservatives blasted it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWhat can one say about this new \u2018book\u2019? In one word: evil,\u201d the University of Chicago bioethicist <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/socialthought.uchicago.edu\/directory\/Leon-R-Kass\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Leon R. Kass<\/a> wrote in Commentary magazine, calling Mr. Humphry \u201cthe Lord High Executioner.\u201d \u201cI did not want to read it, I do not want you to read it. It should never have been written, and it does not deserve to be dignified with a review, let alone an article.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But progressives embraced the book, even as public health experts expressed concern that the methods it laid out could be used by depressed people who weren\u2019t terminally ill.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI\u2019ve read \u2018Final Exit\u2019 out of curiosity, but I\u2019ll keep it for another reason \u2014 because I can imagine, having once nursed a cancer patient, the day when I might want to use it,\u201d the New York Times columnist Anna Quindlen <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1991\/08\/14\/opinion\/public-private-death-the-best-seller.html\" title=\"\">wrote<\/a>, adding, \u201cAnd if that day comes, whose business is it, really, but my own and that of those I love?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Rather than worrying about the book\u2019s contents, Ms. Quindlen said, \u201cwe should look for ways to insure that dignified death is available in places other than the chain bookstore at the mall.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Derek John Humphry was born on April 29, 1930, in Bath, England. His father, Royston Martin Humphry, was a traveling salesman. His mother, Bettine (Duggan) Humphry, had been a fashion model before marrying.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After leaving school at age 15, Derek got a job as a newspaper messenger. The next year, The Bristol Evening World hired him as a reporter. He went on to report for The Manchester Evening News and The Daily Mail before moving to The Sunday Times of London and then The Los Angeles Times.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Before turning to books about death, Mr. Humphry wrote \u201cBecause They\u2019re Black\u201d (1971), an examination of racial discrimination written with Gus John, a Black social worker; and \u201cPolice Power and Black People\u201d (1972), about racism and corruption in Scotland Yard.<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"imageblock-wrapper\">\n<figure class=\"img-sz-small css-1189og3 e1g7ppur0\" aria-label=\"media\" role=\"group\"><figcaption data-testid=\"photoviewer-children-caption\" class=\"css-13ytnnu ewdxa0s0\"><span class=\"css-jevhma e13ogyst0\">In his earlier journalism career in Britain, Mr. Humphry wrote books about race relations, including this one, from 1972, about racism and corruption in Scotland Yard. <\/span><span class=\"css-14fe1uy e1z0qqy90\"><span class=\"css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0\">Credit&#8230;<\/span><span><span aria-hidden=\"false\">Panther Books<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Humphry was a polarizing figure even within the right-to-die movement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In 1990, he and Ms. Wickett Humphry divorced and fought bitterly in the news media. She called him a \u201cfraud,\u201d accusing him of leaving her because she had been diagnosed with cancer. Mr. Humphry denied the allegation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThis was a very shaky marriage,\u201d he <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1990\/02\/08\/us\/right-to-die-group-is-shaken-as-leader-leaves-his-cancer-stricken-wife.html\" title=\"\">told<\/a> The New York Times in 1990. \u201cThis is extremely painful, as bad as Jean\u2019s death. I\u2019ve lost my home; I\u2019ve lived in a motel for three months.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Wickett Humphry killed herself in October of 1991.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In a video recorded the day before, she expressed misgivings about the work they had done together, including helping her parents end their lives at home.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI walked away from that house thinking we\u2019re both murderers,\u201d she <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1991\/12\/08\/magazine\/a-fight-to-the-death.html\" title=\"\">said in the video<\/a>, which was reviewed by The Times.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Humphry went into \u201cdamage control\u201d mode, he told The Times. He placed a half-page advertisement in the paper explaining his side of the story.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cSadly, for much of her life Ann was dogged by emotional problems,\u201d the advertisement said, adding that \u201csuicide for reasons of depression has never been part of the credo of the Hemlock.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Wickett Humphry\u2019s death and reservations about the right-to-die movement caused strain within the Hemlock Society. Mr. Humphry resigned as executive director in 1992 and started the Euthanasia Research and Guidance Organization.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-9\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Hemlock Society eventually splintered into several new groups, including <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/finalexitnetwork.org\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">The Final Exit Network<\/a>, which Mr. Humphry helped start.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He married Gretchen Crocker in 1991. She survives him, along with three sons from his first marriage; three grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Lowrey Brown, a Final Exit Network \u201cexit guide\u201d who helps terminally-ill patients plan their deaths, said in an interview that her clients sometimes credit Mr. Humphry and \u201cFinal Exit\u201d for giving them the courage to end their lives.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt was the Hemlock Society and the book \u2018Final Exit\u2019 that really crossed the threshold of getting this into ordinary Americans living rooms as a discussion topic,\u201d Ms. Brown said. \u201cYou could talk about it at the Thanksgiving dinner table.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or go to <\/em><a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"http:\/\/speakingofsuicide.com\/resources\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">SpeakingOfSuicide.com\/resources<\/em><\/a><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\"> for a list of additional resources.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/24\/health\/derek-humphry-dead.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Derek Humphry, a British-born journalist whose experience helping his terminally-ill wife end her life led him to become a crusading<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Derek Humphry, Pivotal Figure in Right-to-Die Movement, Dies at 94 - World News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/derek-humphry-pivotal-figure-in-right-to-die-movement-dies-at-94\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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