The Arizona Daily Star may just win the “lowest editorial standards of the year” for this year. I hope so, anyway. I’d hate to see what it would take to beat the combination of unconcern for factual accuracy and the apparent ignorance of criminal investigations in their own state. That is the only way to explain the free hand they gave to Earl Wettstein, former president of the Final Exit Network, in spinning and outright lying about his organization and its activities.
On March 19th, the AZ Daily Star published Wettstein’s essay “Final Exit Network helps people die with their dignity intact.”
In the course of the op-ed, Wettstein engages in the following outright lies:
- Describes John Celmer (Georgia “client”) was terminally ill.
- States that the people they “help” are “terminally ill from an incurable disease.”
- States that Celmer would have been able to get assisted suicide legally if he lived in Oregon.
In fact, John Celmer was found to be free of cancer, according to the coroner’s autopsy report. John Celmer was not “terminally ill” by any recognized definition of the term.
All of this means, of course, that John Celmer would not – in theory – have qualified for getting physician “assistance” in Oregon. Unless Wettstein knows something about doctors breaking or bending the laws there that the authorities don’t, that is.
But I have no doubt Wettstein knows this is false (that’s a polite way of saying he’s lying). As mentioned in yesterday’s blog entry, FEN issued a press release last year that stated the laws in Oregon and Washington didn’t go far enough and that FEN would “help” those who weren’t eligible for legal “assistance” in those states.
The Arizona Daily Star should have known the “terminally ill” claim was a load of crap if they followed the news in their own state. Considering they are supposed to cover the news Arizona, that would seem to be a minimum standard.
See, Wettstein carefully avoided mentioning the death of Jana van Voorhis, who committed suicide with the assistance of FEN members in 2007. Voorhis had minor physical ailments, but had struggled for years with emotional and psychiatric issues. Her death has been under investigation since August 2007, and that investigation is now part of the multi-state effort to examine FEN and its activities.
But the Arizona Daily Star never covered the story – I guess that, as far as they’re concerned, if its news from another paper, it doesn’t exist.
The involvement of FEN members is not in dispute. Two members admitted to being present at the time. More recently, Ted Goodwin admitted they were a little sloppy back then, but (trust him!), they are much better now:
Goodwin says the vetting process was tightened in 2007, after questions about Van Voorhis’ death.
Goodwin defended the group’s involvement, saying Van Voorhis suffered from other illnesses, but people who sought help after her were asked to detail their complete mental history.
Obviously, op-eds are submitted to looser editorial standards than basic news stories, but there is a difference between “loose” and “nonexistent.” The editorial staff at the AZ Daily Star found that line and crossed it with ease. –Stephen Drake