Elderly couple used a 'shameful' suicide manual to kill themselves because they couldn't bear to be apart
By CHRIS BROOKELast updated at 21:02 24 January 2008
A devoted couple who could not bear to live without each other used a suicide instruction book to help them take their own lives.
James Bedell, 81, and his wife Hilda, 76, drank whisky and tied plastic bags around their heads after reading Final Exit, an inquest heard.
Coroner Donald Coverdale last night said it was "a shameful book".
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Pact: Mr and Mrs Bedell had planned their deathThe loving couple suffocated as they lay in bed listening to music.
They had spent years planning their final act in detail and had even made a living will with the help of their son in case they were found while still alive.
The pensioners, known as Ted and Nan, left notes for family, friends and neighbours to find at the home they had lived in for 21 years in Strensall, near York.
Next to the letters on the kitchen table was a book, hidden behind the outside cover of an "innocuous novel", which gave the reader guidance on how to commit suicide.
Final Exit, by retired British journalist Derek Humphry, was meant to help the terminally ill die.
Controversial: Final Exit was meant to help the terminally ill die"James and Hilda Bedell had taken steps to minimise the upset to their family and friends. But the event will have caused the greatest distress to those who knew them."
Final Exit shot to the top of the hardback advice category on the New York Times bestsellers list when it came out in 1991.
The book is in its third edition and has been translated into 12 languages. It is banned in France.
Mr Bedell, an RAF war veteran and retired milkman, had been taking medication for anxiety and was receiving treatment for a tremor, which he feared was caused by Parkinson's disease but was more probably due to a benign tumour.
Former teacher Mrs Bedell was prescribed morphine shortly before her death for worsening pain from arthritis and osteoporosis.
Their bodies were discovered by neighbour Janet Wardell on October 23, 2006.
She found a note with her name on in the kitchen and discovered the couple dead in their bedroom with music still playing.
"I was aware of what they had done. They had long said they would commit suicide," she said.
In a statement, their son, Andrew, said: "Years ago they had made it clear they didn't want to lose their quality of life and end up in a hospital or a home. But I spoke to them around October 15 and they made no mention of when or how."
Mr Humphry, 77, wrote a book about the death of his wife Jean, who had terminal cancer but died in 1975 from a deliberate overdose of medication he had bought for her.
In Final Exit, Mr Humphry says: "Self-destruction of a physically fit person is always a tragic waste of life and hurtful to survivors, but life is a personal responsibility. We must each decide for ourselves."
?In his introduction to Final Exit, Derek Humphry explains that a "good death" comes down to the "amount of planning, attention to detail and quality of assistance".
He says it has been used by people it was not aimed at, such as the depressed or mentally ill, admitting: "This I regret, but can do nothing about."
Referring to assisted suicide, he adds: "If your assistance in helping to ease the suffering of a person who could bear no more was a loving act, and justifiable in human terms, then your conscience is clear."
At first no publisher would touch the book so Mr Humphry brought it out himself and netted nearly $1million in profits for the Hemlock Society, a U.S. group that advises the terminally ill on assisted dying and how to have a "dignified death".
The 3rd edition is published by Norris Lane Press. The book, which is also available as a DVD, can be bought for £5
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-510118/Elderly-couple-used-shameful-suicide-manual-kill-bear-apart.html#ixzz1bch1mnIP
Nip/Tuck s01e10
Nip Tuck: Suicídio de Megan O'Hara [Legendado]
Plastic bag & drugs
This is a theoretically simple method of suicide, where the cause of death is hypoxia (lack of oxygen to the brain and body).
Given many drugs do not, on their own, induce death (especially if the dose is below the minimum lethal dose), the idea is to ingest drugs that will cause unconsciousness, and then for the plastic bag to cause death by hypoxia, as, with no fresh oxygen in the bag, carbon dioxide is inhaled eventually causing death.
Care must be taken to use a bag that will not tear if the body is convulsing, or during semi consciousness.
Nitschke & Stewart1 and Derek Humphry2 recommend the sort of oven bag you roast a turkey in. Thin plastic bags where the plastic will easily stick to the face are not recommended, although Stone3 mentions that wearing a hat with a brim can avoid this problem. The bigger the bag, the slower the asphyxiation. Whatever the bag size though, there does need to be some seal around the neck. It does not need to be tight - an elastic band or a loop of elastic should do the trick.
The major drawback of this method is running out of oxygen in the bag whilst still conscious. Humans, whatever their mental state, have an underlying strong desire to stay alive, so are likely to tear or remove the bag in this situation. A bigger bag may be the answer, although it is always hard to know how long it will take for any given drug dose to render unconsciousness, and whether the oxygen in the proposed bag size will last more or less than that time. In Final Exit Derek Humphry talks about elasticating the bag, then holding the bottom open so breathing is easy until consciousness is lost, when the elastic would gently close the bag around the head.
Stone3 states that a 30 gallon trash bag should have around 30 minutes of air in it, although in his own tests he stated that after only 15 minutes carbon dioxide build up was sufficiently high for his breathing rate to more than triple and be uncomfortable enough to want to remove the bag. On Alt Suicide Holiday4 it is stated that even when people start to become unconscious, they can remove the bag from their head, thus making this method prone to failure.
Another option is to try and place the bag over the head as the drugs are starting to take effect, although this is prone to failing to get the bag over the head in time, or still running out of oxygen. A small tent that has all vents sealed may offer a viable alternative to a bag, and have a fair amount of oxygen to last for a number of hours until the drugs take effect, although in this case it really would be important to ensure that no air can leak into the tent once inside it.
It is probably advisable to do testing with different types of bag/tent before any suicide attempt to get a gauge for how long any given bag/tent can be breathed in before it becomes uncomfortable. Then ensure that whatever drugs are taken will cause unconsciousness in less than that time.
This method does take time for death to occur. The time all depends on how much air is in the bag/tent, and potentially what drugs are being used. Whilst discovery and interruption of the attempt within a relatively short time frame may not cause any permanent damage, discovery later in to the process may result in permanent brain damage. For this reason, it is absolutely essential that there is no chance of being discovered for a period of at least a few of hours.
So whilst this method is potentially lethal, generally painless, and will leave a peaceful looking body, it does have a number of drawbacks to carry it out effectively. Important considerations are a bag with enough oxygen to last until the drugs cause unconsciousness, ideally a bag that is comfortable to breath in whist conscious, drugs that will reliably cause unconsciousness, and to ensure there is no chance of being discovered.
Although this method is mentioned as potentially lethal in Final Exit, and mentioned in many forums, it is not mentioned in Peaceful Pill Handbook, and Alt Suicide Holiday states that posts on their newsgroup consistently report this method as failing, and advise against using it. There are certainly more reliable methods.
Anyone seriously considering this method of suicide is advised to read Help me first.
Given many drugs do not, on their own, induce death (especially if the dose is below the minimum lethal dose), the idea is to ingest drugs that will cause unconsciousness, and then for the plastic bag to cause death by hypoxia, as, with no fresh oxygen in the bag, carbon dioxide is inhaled eventually causing death.
Care must be taken to use a bag that will not tear if the body is convulsing, or during semi consciousness.
Nitschke & Stewart1 and Derek Humphry2 recommend the sort of oven bag you roast a turkey in. Thin plastic bags where the plastic will easily stick to the face are not recommended, although Stone3 mentions that wearing a hat with a brim can avoid this problem. The bigger the bag, the slower the asphyxiation. Whatever the bag size though, there does need to be some seal around the neck. It does not need to be tight - an elastic band or a loop of elastic should do the trick.
The major drawback of this method is running out of oxygen in the bag whilst still conscious. Humans, whatever their mental state, have an underlying strong desire to stay alive, so are likely to tear or remove the bag in this situation. A bigger bag may be the answer, although it is always hard to know how long it will take for any given drug dose to render unconsciousness, and whether the oxygen in the proposed bag size will last more or less than that time. In Final Exit Derek Humphry talks about elasticating the bag, then holding the bottom open so breathing is easy until consciousness is lost, when the elastic would gently close the bag around the head.
Stone3 states that a 30 gallon trash bag should have around 30 minutes of air in it, although in his own tests he stated that after only 15 minutes carbon dioxide build up was sufficiently high for his breathing rate to more than triple and be uncomfortable enough to want to remove the bag. On Alt Suicide Holiday4 it is stated that even when people start to become unconscious, they can remove the bag from their head, thus making this method prone to failure.
Another option is to try and place the bag over the head as the drugs are starting to take effect, although this is prone to failing to get the bag over the head in time, or still running out of oxygen. A small tent that has all vents sealed may offer a viable alternative to a bag, and have a fair amount of oxygen to last for a number of hours until the drugs take effect, although in this case it really would be important to ensure that no air can leak into the tent once inside it.
It is probably advisable to do testing with different types of bag/tent before any suicide attempt to get a gauge for how long any given bag/tent can be breathed in before it becomes uncomfortable. Then ensure that whatever drugs are taken will cause unconsciousness in less than that time.
This method does take time for death to occur. The time all depends on how much air is in the bag/tent, and potentially what drugs are being used. Whilst discovery and interruption of the attempt within a relatively short time frame may not cause any permanent damage, discovery later in to the process may result in permanent brain damage. For this reason, it is absolutely essential that there is no chance of being discovered for a period of at least a few of hours.
So whilst this method is potentially lethal, generally painless, and will leave a peaceful looking body, it does have a number of drawbacks to carry it out effectively. Important considerations are a bag with enough oxygen to last until the drugs cause unconsciousness, ideally a bag that is comfortable to breath in whist conscious, drugs that will reliably cause unconsciousness, and to ensure there is no chance of being discovered.
Although this method is mentioned as potentially lethal in Final Exit, and mentioned in many forums, it is not mentioned in Peaceful Pill Handbook, and Alt Suicide Holiday states that posts on their newsgroup consistently report this method as failing, and advise against using it. There are certainly more reliable methods.
Anyone seriously considering this method of suicide is advised to read Help me first.
Sources
- Dr Phillip Nitschke with Dr Fiona Stewart, The Peaceful Pill eHandbook, revised 10 October 2009.
- D Humphry, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying, 2002.
- Geo Stone, Suicide and Attempted Suicide, 1999.
- Alt Suicide Holiday website, http://ash2.wikkii.com/wiki/Exit_(plastic)_bag_with_sedatives.
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