Death guide dropped

Press, 13 August 1980, Page 9

Death guide dropped

NZPA London A British euthanasia society, fearing that its officials could be jailed, has announced that it will not publish a previously announced guide on how to kill yourself.

Executives of the 45-year-old society, known as Exit, whose offices were raided by the police last month, declared the decision meant “tragedy and continued distress and personal suffering” for thousands of incurably ill people longing for death. “It is a tragedy for which our so-called civilised society should be con-

demned, but I am personally not prepared to go to jail,” said Larry Hill, aged 63, act=> ing chairman of the society, which is called Exit, the Society for the Right to. Die with Dignity. Exit officials decided not to publish the 30-page manual after their lawyers advised that they could be prosecuted, and that two lawyers and a doctor who helped draw up the suicide guide risked being barred from professional practice. Suicide has been legal in Britain since 1961. Previously people who attempted to kill themselves and failed could be prose-

cuted. Aiding and abetting suicide is still an offence, punishable by up'to 14 years in jail. The booklet lists four bloodless methods of suicide, Exit has said, including specific instructions on fatal overdoses of pills available off-prescription at pharmacies.

Since Exit announced last August that it intended publishing the suicide guide, membership has soared from 2000 to 9000. Most new members, including several hundred Americans, said ■ specifically that they wanted the booklet.