A judge has dismissed charges against the former leader of a US right-to-die group accused in the death of a Minnesota woman, ruling that the state law against advising suicide is unconstitutionally overbroad. The judge dismissed charges against Thomas Goodwin, former president of Final Exit Network. The group argued the law violates a person's right to freedom of speech.Last year, four members of the group were charged in the 2007 death of Doreen Dunn, who killed herself in her home. Prosecutors said the defendants provided Dunn with information and support.
Dunn had suffered through a decade of intense, chronic pain after a medical procedure went wrong.
Final Exit Network is run by volunteers who believe that mentally competent adults have a basic human right to end their lives if they suffer from "fatal or irreversible illness or intractable pain" and meet other criteria, according to the group's website. "We do not encourage anyone to end their life," the website says.
Goodwin was charged with aiding and abetting assistance of a suicide, a felony, and aiding and abetting in the interference with a death scene, a gross misdemeanor.
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Judge Dismisses Charge Against Leading Right-to-Die Advocate
2 comments:
I would have to agree that laws are not advice instruments. I am against assisted suicide but there should not be a law advising against it. It should be law or against the law and that's all.
My concern over assisted suicide is the element of undue influence when there is money involved.
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