Right now, activists on both sides of the euthanasia debate are awaiting the fate of George Exoo. He currently resides in a jail cell in West Virginia while Judge R. Clarke VanDervort weighs his decision in regard to Ireland’s request to extradite Exoo. Irish authorities want to try Exoo on charges related to his role in the death of Rosemary Toole Gilhooley in 2002.
Gilhooley reportedly paid Exoo and a companion $2500 to pay for his travel and expenses.
Exoo was founder of the Compassionate Chaplaincy, that by its own description, was “a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization provides end-of-life counseling and compassionate terminal assistance to those whose lives have become insurmountably, unrelentingly, and endlessly painful and wish to end their lives at their own chosen times.”
This got me thinking. People who follow euthanasia-related news are familiar with the bizarre “suicide tourism” that has developed in Switzerland. In “suicide tourism,” disabled and ill people from outside Switzerland have entered the country for the purpose of getting “help” in committing suicide from the group Dignitas.
Exoo, it seems, took the idea of “suicide tourist” in a new direction. He was able to use the opportunity of Gilhooley’s plight, for example, to get two-way tickets for two between the U.S. and Ireland. To be fair, he and his companion took a trip to Amsterdam on their own dimes, but it is obvious the fare between the U.S. and Ireland is a lot more expensive than that part of the trip.
I’m a child of the 1960s. A popular poster during my teenage years (popular among my crowd, anyway) was a poster that took the established military recruitment posters suggesting enlistees would “see the world” and turned it inside out.
The poster was the conventional “Uncle Sam” pointing at you and said “Join the Army – travel to distant lands; meet exciting, unusual people and kill them.”
I have no idea if Exoo ever recruited members for his “Compassionate Chaplaincy,” but I thought maybe he might have a recruiting poster that looked something like this:
The image above is a poster with the title “Join Reverend Exoo and the Compassionate Chaplaincy.” Below that is a drawn caricature of Exoo. Underneath the caricature are the words: “travel to exotic, distant lands; meet exciting, unusual people and help them kill themselves – all travel, lodging and recreational expenses reimbursed – cash up front.”
Right now, we can just sit along and wait, along with George Exoo. And think about what kinds of things we won’t do for a paid trip to Ireland. –Stephen Drake