We often think of “suicide tourism,” as sick or despairing people traveling to a suicide friendly venue like Switzerland to have help shuffling off this mortal coil. Several years ago, George Exoo, then a Unitarian minister, did the suicide circuit in reverse. Admitting to running the “compassionate chaplaincy” in which he counseled suicidal persons and attended their suicides, Exoo traveled to Ireland to the home of the late Rosemary Toole (at her expense) and merely watched (he says) while she swallowed some crushed pills, covered her head with a plastic bag and breathed helium until she died.
The Irish authorities were not amused, contending that Exoo violated the law, that his activities amounted to assisted suicide. In 2004, Irish authorities requested that Exoo be extradited to face trial. He has now been arrested pending an extradition hearing. He claims that he didn’t know assisted suicide was against the law in Ireland. Perhaps, but you know what they say: Ignorance of the law is no excuse.
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