After the death of Jack Kevorkian, Lawrence Egbert is the new public face of American assisted suicide Egbert estimates he has been present for 100 suicides in the past 15 years, a figure that puts him in the same league with the famed assisted-suicide maverick Jack Kevorkian, who claimed to have helped more than 130 people die. Egbert calls Kevorkian a “radical” because the latter took an active role in some suicides, building a machine to administer lethal doses and sometimes injecting patients himself. Egbert sees his work as a calling, a vocation aimed at ending suffering. But he says he provides only guidance and support. Egbert says he approved applications for about 300 suicides, most as medical director of theFinal Exit Network, a loosely knit group that claims 3,000 dues-paying members. Even within his own organization, Egbert is controversial. The vast majority of the network’s members suffer from painful physical ailments such as late-stage cancer, he says. But unlike the group’s current leadership, Egbert is also willing, in extreme cases, he says, to serve as an “exit guide” for patients who have suffered from depression for extended periods of time.

After the death of Jack Kevorkian, Lawrence Egbert is the new public face of American assisted suicide

Egbert estimates he has been present for 100 suicides in the past 15 years, a figure that puts him in the same league with the famed assisted-suicide maverick Jack Kevorkian, who claimed to have helped more than 130 people die. Egbert calls Kevorkian a “radical” because the latter took an active role in some suicides, building a machine to administer lethal doses and sometimes injecting patients himself. Egbert sees his work as a calling, a vocation aimed at ending suffering. But he says he provides only guidance and support.

Egbert says he approved applications for about 300 suicides, most as medical director of theFinal Exit Network, a loosely knit group that claims 3,000 dues-paying members. Even within his own organization, Egbert is controversial. The vast majority of the network’s members suffer from painful physical ailments such as late-stage cancer, he says. But unlike the group’s current leadership, Egbert is also willing, in extreme cases, he says, to serve as an “exit guide” for patients who have suffered from depression for extended periods of time.

(via tamburina)

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  1. quickbookstraining reblogged this from brooklynmutt
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  3. radmax reblogged this from tamburina and added:
    Lawrence Egbert is the
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  5. vinegarwilliams reblogged this from brooklynmutt and added:
    as an alternative to suffering. Any able-minded person would hate to see a loved one suffer terminal pain. There is no...
  6. strangledwords reblogged this from tamburina and added:
    I had to base an argument in defense to physician...for a class in college. Really intense...
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