PBS Airs Frontline “The Suicide Plan” – Video Tape Exposes Final Exit Network’s Big Lie

Well, I spent a significant amount of time today going through the video and painstakingly transcribing key quotes, only to find out a little bit later that the Frontline site has posted a transcript.  If you heard a heavy sigh late this afternoon, that was me – I was too tired for the more usual stream of colorful language I’d use in situations like this.

There will probably be a third look in the next few days, but today I want to focus on what, to me, was the single most striking set of statements and revelations that emerged in the documentary.

When the news of arrests of members of the Final  Exit Network (FEN) in Georgia made the news in February, 2009 – there was a disturbing allegation in addition to assisting/facilitating the suicide of John Celmer, a man who had gone through tough cancer treatments, but was cancer-free at the time of his death.  The following is an excerpt posted in the NDY blog taken from an article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution – an article that is now only available through a pay wall.

The death had been planned for months, authorities say. Two helium tanks were purchased, along with an “exit bag,” or hood to be placed over the suicidal man’s head.

Thomas “Ted” Goodwin, 63, formerly of Kennesaw, and Claire Blehr, 76, of Atlanta, would observe the death of the man they were told suffered from pancreatic cancer. In truth, the man was a Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent conducting a sting operation at a residence in Dawson County.

On Wednesday, authorities say, Goodwin walked the undercover agent through the steps that would have killed him. He demonstrated how he would hold down the undercover agent’s hands to prohibit him from removing the “exit bag.” (Emphasis added)

At that point, other agents moved in and arrested Goodwin, said GBI spokesman John Bankhead. He, Blehr and two men in Maryland were taken into custody on charges they helped John Celmer, 58, of Cumming, commit suicide by the same method last June.

Celmer’s family found his death to be suspicious. They contacted the Cumming Police Department, which led to the GBI’s involvement.

Bankhead said agents found evidence in Celmer’s house linking him to the Final Exit Network, a Marietta-based volunteer organization —- of which Goodwin is president —- supposedly dedicated to serving individuals who are suffering from an incurable illness or intolerable pain.

This is how FEN broke into the national consciousness.  By far, the most damning allegation made was the claim that Ted Goodwin told the GBI agent that Goodwin would hold his hands down to prevent him from removing the “exit bag.”  In various news stories the allegation almost always referred to an “affidavit” filed by the GBI agent in the sting operation.  As much as I tracked the coverage – I never saw any reference to a recording.  Eventually in the press, that put the framing in terms of the word of a “persecuting officer” against a harmless old man just trying to help people.

Almost immediately, Ted Goodwin and other members of FEN denied that anyone held anyone’s hands down; some people claimed they just touched people’s hands while others said they never touched the individual whose suicide would be witnessed at all.

This is a still-active link to a news story published in March 2009 gives an example of a typical denial by Ted Goodwin:

GBI has said network members were instructed to buy two new helium tanks and a hood, known as an “exit bag.” In court papers, investigators said the group’s guides would hold down its members’ hands to prevent them from removing the hood — a charge Goodwin vehemently denied.

“We do not hold hands down. We do not cause them to suffer,” he said. “And this will be proven in a court of law — I promise you.” (Emphasis added.)

What we know now – thanks to Frontline – is that Ted Goodwin lied.  Repeatedly.

For the first time ever, the GBI tape of the sting was shown.  Below is the transcript:

NARRATOR: An agent posing as a man dying of pancreatic cancer had applied to Final Exit Network for help.

GBI AGENT: —expecting a visit from Ted Goodwin of Final Exit Network. The purpose of this visit is to provide assistance in committing suicide.

PENNY PENN: The undercover sting showed what the rest of the— the facts intimated.

GBI AGENT: Want something to drink, Ted?

TED GOODWIN: I just had some water—

PENNY PENN: It was consistent with the training materials. But we actually had the players, the defendants themselves, going through this.

TED GOODWIN: You’re going to have that hood on, and you’re going to be looking at me, probably. And you’re going to be breathing. It feels and smells just like air.

PENNY PENN: You know, I think then that a jury could believe that this is actually how it would happen with other people.

TED GOODWIN: About half the people have the tremor in their arms. So their arms come up. And that’s just muscle reaction. I’m going to make sure your arms don’t tear a hole in that bag. I’m going to hold your arms down.

PENNY PENN: The holding of the hands, though, became something much more sinister and also legally significant than just, you know, the idea that there is this other person, you know, who’s putting their hand on top of that person just to have, you know, some human contact. Here it was that they were actually keeping the person’s hands down or the arms down so that they couldn’t remove the bag.

GBI AGENT: I’m just wondering how you would hold my hands down if I were having involuntary spasms.

TED GOODWIN: Like that.

GBI AGENT: You can do it.

TED GOODWIN: I can do that. Trust me.

NARRATOR: As soon as physical contact was made, agents arrested Ted Goodwin.

The tape is striking – in the last part, Goodwin gives a demonstration of how he would hold the agent’s arms down as the agent is down on the bed.  The agent looks like he’s struggling to get his hands up – Goodwin is successful in holding them down.

It gets worse, though.  In an earlier exchange with Lawrence Egbert, ex “medical director” of FEN, there’s this disturbing exchange:

Dr. LAWRENCE EGBERT: The point of no return is when a patient pulls it down, and that’s made very clear to them. And I often will say, “Once you pull it down, you’ve made the decision. If you pull— full of helium and you pull this down over your head, you’ll be unconscious between 30 and 60 seconds, and unless you have a very vigorous, strong heart, dead within 8 to 10 minutes.”

When a person dies, then we— we’ll take the bag off. And after we’ve sat for a few minutes that way, if the relatives are there, we’ll ask them explicitly to wait a couple of hours so the body will cool, so that somebody won’t try and resuscitate. If they try and resuscitate right away, they can get a heart— the heart’s very tough and the brain is not so tough. So the heart will start up again. And I’ve seen a person like that, where the heart started up beautifully, normally, but the brain was totally dead. And that, we do— that is the ultimate of disasters.

Frustratingly, the interviewer doesn’t ask for a clarification of what Egbert means when he “makes it clear” that pulling the bag down is the “point of no return.”  Does he mean that he won’t let him take the bag off at that point?  It’s open for interpretation, with that at the top of my personal list.

So take these elements:

• A bunch of secretive suicide-assisting zealots;
• A “protocol” that included – at one time at least – holding people’s hands down to prevent them from “accidentally” removing or tearing the helium-filled plastic bag;
• At least one FEN member who informed “clients” that pulling the hood over their head was the “point of no return;
• And a great concern by Lawrence Egbert that the “ultimate” disaster is the person being resuscitated with a beating heart but a brain that’s dead (I suspect he’d apply that to any brain damage – it’s pretty clear he doesn’t care much about medical accuracy when working in this field.

To top it off, Ted Goodwin states that it’s his duty to “prevent a botched suicide.” He appears unconcerned about maybe killing someone who changed their mind about suicide at the last moment.

And that’s exactly what all of these factors are a recipe for.  This group claims that no one has ever changed their mind at the last minute.  Given that they claim a body count in the hundreds, that is literally unbelievable.  It’s far more likely they don’t give anyone a chance to reconsider at the last minute.  And, if true, you end up with something that isn’t suicide at all – and “assistance” has become something even uglier – murder.

Watch The Suicide Plan on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.