Online Suicide Propaganda Blamed in More Deaths

By Brian Johnston

Throughout history when suicide is approved of and promoted for "a few," invariably emotionally vulnerable individuals consider themselves candidates as well. The result is "copy cat" suicides or "suicide clusters." The modern combination of suicide promotion and the ease of access afforded by the Internet has brought the insidious notion of "rational suicide" to many who are easily caught in its simplistic view of life and death.

The Internet-suicide phenomenon in North America has begun to take its toll. On Sunday, June 8, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on an online discussion group that encouraged "successful suicide." The online service even notifies family members with special time-delayed e-mails. The online site, which the Chronicle is not identifying, has been directly linked with at least 28 deaths. Julia Scheeres, the Chronicle writer, believes that the number of deaths could well be higher, as not all participants report their actions. Scheeres writes,

The discussion group defines its philosophy as being "pro-choice" suicide. Participants view suicide as a civil right that anyone should be able to exercise, for whatever reason. On any given day, the Internet site is filled with hopeless rants about life's miseries, advertisements for suicide partners, and requests for feedback on self-murder plans. Among the hottest items is a "methods file," a step-by-step guide on how to commit suicide - - from asphyxiation to rat poison.

Copy-cat suicides are not limited to the young, as is frequently thought. On June 4, 2003, a 53-year-old woman in St. Louis logged on to the "Church of Euthanasia" web site and followed its instruction to the last detail. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted that the phenomenon was not new. The bestseller Final Exit written by Derek Humphry was first published in 1991 as a guide to suicide as well as "assisting" a suicide without being discovered by authorities.

The book was found to be a contributing factor in numerous suicides in St. Louis alone. A 1993 study in the New England Journal of Medicine focusing only on New York City found that Final Exit had led to a dramatic increase in suicide, with many victims having no underlying physical illness.

The ongoing promotion of suicide "online" bodes ill for the emotionally and physically vulnerable. The promotion of "assisted suicide" only means that an outside agent is now encouraged to aid and/or implement the deadly act.

In the remainder of this article we'll take a quick look at other euthanasia-related items around the world.

Euthanasia in the UK

The British newspaper The Telegraph reported on May 14 that legislators in the Isle of Man, a dependency of the British crown in the Irish Sea, have agreed to consider draft legislation to legalize euthanasia. The House of the Keys, the island's parliament, voted for the measure by 15-4 and mandated a five-person select committee to take evidence and report back to members. Two parliamentarians introduced the measure in response to lobbying by a man with prostate cancer who has been told that he has between 2 and 10 years to live. The Voluntary Euthanasia Society has welcomed the move and is urging the United Kingdom to follow suit.

The Guernsey Press and Star reported in March that advocates for doctor-assisted suicide in the Channel Island of Guernsey are sending postcards to every household on the island seeking support for their cause. The States, Guernsey's parliament, decided last September to conduct an investigation into the possibility of legalizing voluntary euthanasia. The Guernsey 4 Doctor-Assisted Dying Action Group is now hoping that as many of the island's 58,000 residents as possible will sign and return the postcards to express their support. Guernsey is technically an independent British protectorate under the crown but outside the jurisdiction of the UK Parliament.

Meanwhile the Voluntary Euthanasia Society in England is launching a poster campaign to call for a change in British law to allow people to choose when they die. The law was debated in the House of Lords.

According to the Guardian,

Lord Joffe's private members bill would allow a "competent" adult to request medical assistance to die if suffering from a terminal disease or incurable illness. He argued that government policy on this subject is out of date and based on the findings of the 1993/4 House of Lords select committee on medical ethics. The committee recognised individual cases could be justified but thought a law allowing assisted death could not prevent vulnerable people from being put at risk.

Swiss Euthanasia on Increase

The relatives of the British couple who died in an assisted suicide in Switzerland in early April have called for the group which helped them to die to be closed down. Robert and Jennifer Stokes did not tell their family or friends before they traveled to Zurich to take lethal doses of barbiturates, and it appears that neither of them was terminally ill, according to the BBC. Joan Bates, Jennifer Stokes's sister, said that she believed her sister was depressed and that the family was "absolutely devastated and completely shocked at what happened" (Luton and Dunstable, April 19).

Mr. Andrew Selous, a member of parliament, said he will ask the British government to make an inquiry regarding the prosecution of Dignitas, the Swiss group responsible. "It is my understanding that it is a crime in Switzerland to help able-bodied people to commit suicide," he told BBC Radio 4's Today program. "They were not terminally ill."

The BBC reported on April 15 that Swiss doctors are reportedly angry at the suicide, which took place in a flat with the help of members of Dignitas. The organization has "helped" some 150 people to kill themselves.

In Switzerland itself, the SwissInfo news service on June 20 reported on a report by the University of Zurich that found that 7 out of 10 terminally-ill people in the German-speaking portion of Switzerland ended their lives through different types of euthanasia.

Southern Hemisphere

Bills legalizing physician-assisted suicide were introduced this spring in New Zealand, as well as the Australian states of Tasmania, New South Wales, and South Australia.

Dr Philip Nitschke, the prominent Australian advocate for euthanasia, launched a nine-day promotional tour of New Zealand to promote the bill. Nitschke conducted a program of workshops and meetings and raised money for the legal defense of Lesley Martin, a woman from the district of Wanganui who has been charged with the attempted murder of her sick mother in 1999. Last March a spokesman for Helen Clark, the country's prime minister, told the New Zealand Herald that she supported a change in the law.

Nitschke simultaneously promotes his do-it-yourself suicide machine, the key ingredients of which are "crushed ants [which produce formic acid] and car battery acid," according to The Age. "'The only side-effect is sudden death,' Dr Nitschke said, insisting he was not trying to be trite."