The Final Exit Network (FEN) has a billboard up in New Jersey now. It has received a fair amount of coverage – and all of it has been superficial and inaccurate. Not one article has mentioned the criminal charges FEN members face in Georgia and New Jersey, let alone the fact that two FEN members in Arizona have entered into plea bargains, which include a commitment to testify against their fellow FEN members. The Arizona case involves the death of Jana Van Voorhis, a woman who had no serious physical illnesses, but had a long history of emotional troubles. FEN’s involvement in her death contradicts the claims being made in current coverage that the organization engages in some sort of psychological screening.
The press has also gone along – part way – with FEN’s description of their opponents – people with religious motivations. That’s a blatant lie – the only group that has engaged in a physical protest of FEN is Not Dead Yet – and we’re a bunch of secular disability rights activists.
What FEN probably didn’t plan on was criticism from the suicide prevention community, which avoided commenting on FEN throughout coverage of the initial charges leveled against members in Georgia and Arizona.
But even that is turning out to their benefit in the current coverage, thanks to “suicide prevention expert” Dr. Judith Springer. Springer is a psychologist and board member of the Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide.
The first red flag went up on Springer’s comments in her first press quotes that appeared in the Star-Ledger, giving her reaction to the FEN billboard:
Therapists called the billboard “irresponsible,” arguing it could serve as a “tipping point” for troubled teens or others at risk of suicide.
“The idea of any of these upset, impressionable kids seeing a billboard like that absolutely horrifies me,” said Judith Springer, a Morristown psychologist and board member of the Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide. “You can’t filter who sees a publicly displayed sign.”
The quote bothered me a little, since there seemed to be room here that – in her opinion – there is an appropriate audience for the sign and the organization.
Turns out my vague concerns were all too valid. The good Dr. Springer ended up showing the depth of her concern when it comes to suicide for the elderly – or more accurately, her complete lack of concern. In a July 16th article written by Fox News religion correspondent Lauren Green, Springer reiterated her previous comments and then expanded on them:
But Springer says she’s not opposed to Final Exit’s mission, just how they’re delivering the message.“I visited the website and it’s populated by elderly folks who are at the end of a very long life and are in pain,” she said. “That’s a whole different issue to me.”
While adolescents admittedly have their entire lives ahead of them and warrant immediate concern when they fall prey to such depression, the humanity of the disabled and the elderly is no less worthy of respect and protection. When you leave one segment of society vulnerable to extinction, we are all ultimately at risk. As a graduate with a B.A. in Psychology I know that former DSM manuals made it clear that suicidal tendencies are not normal and require treatment. One does not throw out the baby with the bath water so to speak. Both pain and depression are treatable, leaving the person more capable of appreciating life thereafter.
I am deeply disappointed in Judith Springer and other suicide prevention groups.
The US used to sterilize people with disabilities. Now more and more states allow elders and people with disabilities to be socially influenced to commit suicide. All lives should be protected from social pressure to commit suicide.
Saying that suicide is okay for “elderly folks” but not for youth is beyond ageist. Suicide prevention agencies’ silence on the importance of preventing suicide in people with disabilities, elders, and people with chronic conditions is discriminatory. And it is certainly not “compassionate.”
As an elderly folk frequently in pain– here is my take–I don’t want to die I just want relief of my pain. Which, by the way, is available. Sometimes age or disability brings an added appreciation of how very beautiful the world is. Just seeing my beautiful grandchildren or an awesome sunset makes life worth living.
And a serious question to supporters of FEN– if these people they “assisted” really wanted to die, why did FEN need to hold their hands down? Because the victims were trying to tear the plastic bag off their faces. On CSI (and, we hope, in court) they call that murder.
Compassion and Choices put up a large display of portraits with six-word soundbites including “My Life. My Death. My Choice.” in the concourse between the Connecticut Capitol and the Legislative Office Building in Hartford on January 31, 2014. One week later, the portraits were suddenly taken down by Legislative Management. We at Second Thoughts Connecticut wondered why: https://www.facebook.com/SecondThoughtsConnecticut/posts/634586979912557
“Could it be that suicide prevention advocates, or a concerned teacher, objected to the hawking of suicide in a place where vulnerable children and teenagers go on school tours? What do these messages suggesting that ‘my death’ is purely ‘my choice’ as a way out of suffering say to autistic,LGBT, or other teenagers who are being mercilessly bullied? Assisted suicide supporters may have a First Amendment right to free speech in the public square, but their message here is grossly irresponsible in promoting suicide contagion.”
This display by Compassion and Choices is a glossier version of the Final Exit Network billboards mentioned in the above post.