Widow Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Final Exit Members in Georgia

Billboards or no, troubles continue to mount for the Final Exit Network (FEN):

From blogger Greg Land

Widow sues ‘Final Exit Network’ over its role in husband’s death:

10:07 am, June 23rd, 2010
 
The widow of a Forsyth County man who died two years ago with the assistance of the Final Action Network, an assisted suicide organization, has filed a wrongful death and negligence suit against the group and four members already facing criminal charges that they helped John D. Celmer, 54, commit suicide with the aid of an “exit hood” connected to a helium tank.

The individual defendants—co-founder Thomas Goodwin of Kennesaw, Claire Blehr of Atlanta, and Lawrence Egbert and Nicholas A. Sheridan, both of Baltimore, Md.—were indicted by a Forsyth County grand jury in March on charges of assisting a suicide, tampering with evidence and racketeering in connection with Celmer’s death.

The civil complaint, filed last week on in Fulton County Superior Court by S. Fenn Little Jr. of Little, Crumley & Chambliss on behalf of Susan Celmer, says that her husband’s cancer was in remission in April 2008 when he contacted the Final Exit Network to inquire about its “exit guide” services. Celmer provided his medical records and filled out a questionnaire and other documents, it says, and on June 19, 2008, defendants Blehr and Goodwin went to Celmer’s home and helped him place the hood over his head, holding his hands as he inhaled the helium and remaining for about 15 minutes “to confirm Celmer was dead.”

The suit says Celmer’s prognosis for recovery was “excellent” at the time of his death, and seeks damages for the value of his life, the loss of companionship for his widow, and punitive damages.

Effort to reach Blehr’s attorney, Robert Rubin of Decatur’s Peters Rubin & Reynolds, was not immediately successful.

The zealots at FEN will probably attempt to describe this as “persecution” and part of a “witch hunt.”  Looks like a widow seeking justice to me.  –Stephen Drake