TheHemlock Society (sometimes calledHemlock Society USA) was an Americanright-to-die andassisted suicide advocacy organization which existed from 1980 to 2003, and took its name from the hemlock plantConium maculatum, a highlypoisonous herb in thecarrot family, as a direct reference to the method by which theAthenian philosopherSocrates took his life in 399BC, as described inPlato'sPhaedo.^{[2][unreliable source?]}

It was co-founded inSanta Monica, California by Britishauthor andactivistDerek Humphry, his wife Ann Wickett Humphry andGerald A. Larue.^{[citation needed]} It relocated toOregon in 1988 and, according to Humphry, had several homes over the course of its life.^{[2][unreliable source?]}

The Hemlock Society's primary mission included providing information to thedying and supporting legislation permittingphysician-assisted suicide. Itsmotto was "Good Life, Good Death".^[3]

In 2003, the national organization renamed itself End of Life Choices. In 2004, former members of the Hemlock Society Derek Humphry and Faye Girsh, founded theFinal Exit Network,^{[4][self-published source]} after Humphry's1991 book of the same name.^[5] In 2004, End-of-Life Choices merged with Compassion in Dying, which becameCompassion & Choices.^{[6][unreliable source?]} Several local and state organizations, including the Hemlock Society ofFlorida^[7] and the Hemlock Society ofSan Diego,^[8] have retained the Hemlock Society name. Others, such as the Hemlock Society of Illinois (Final Options Illinois^[9]), have changed their names.^{[better source needed]}

According to former president Faye Girsh, the Hemlock Society was founded in 1980 and was named in reference toSocrates' decision to end his life by drinking hemlock rather than continuing an existence he found intolerable.^[10] In the fifth century B.C., Socrates was convicted of corrupting the youth ofAthens by encouraging ideas seen as subversive. Though he was sentenced to be executed, Socrates could have escaped into exile, but nevertheless chose death, an act seen as dignified and noble by many supporters of assisted suicide.^{[citation needed]}

Earlier right-to-die advocacy organizations included the Euthanasia Educational Council founded in 1967, changing its name toConcern for Dying in 1978.^[11]

The Hemlock Society was started in 1980 after the success ofDerek Humphry's bookJean's Way (1978), which recounted how Humphry assisted his wife in committing suicide on 29 March 1975 after a long battle with cancer.^{[12][failed verification]} Due to the success ofJean's Way, Humphry had received many letters from people asking for information about assisted suicide. He decided to start the Hemlock Society in an effort to campaign for a change in law and educate the terminally ill on assisted suicide and its methods.^{[13][unreliable source?]} Initially started in Humphry's garage inSanta Monica, California, the group eventually moved toEugene, Oregon, and had many other homes.^{[2][unreliable source?]}

Let Me Die Before I Wake, Humphry's book on the methods of assisted suicide, was originally published for members of the Hemlock Society. Due to demand for the book, it was published for the market in 1982 and became part of the foundation for the Hemlock Society's reputation and income.^{[13][unreliable source?]} In 1991, Humphry publishedFinal Exit, subtitled "The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying". The book was a bestseller, though there were calls to ban it.^[14] After the success ofFinal Exit, Humphry left the Hemlock Society and started Euthanasia Research and Guidance Organization in 1992.^{[13][unreliable source?]}

The Society was a founding charter member of theWorld Federation of Right to Die Societies, which began in 1980 inOxford, England, and was led by Sidney D. Rosoff and Humphry.^{[citation needed]}

The Hemlock Society's national membership grew to include 40,000 individuals and eighty chapters.^{[citation needed]}

The Society backed legislative efforts in California, Washington, Michigan, and Maine without success until theOregon Death with Dignity Act was passed on October 27, 1997.^{[citation needed]}

Past Hemlock Society USA presidents includedGerald A. Larue, Derek Humphry, Sidney D. Rosoff, Wiley Morrison, Arthur Metcalfe, John Westover, Faye J. Girsh. Past executive directors included Derek Humphry (acting 1980–1992), Cheryl K. Smith (1992–1993), John A. Pridonoff (1993–1995), Helen Voorhis (acting 1995–1996), and Faye J. Girsh (1996–2000).^{[citation needed]}

In the 2010television filmYou Don’t Know Jack, which dramatizes theactivism of formerOakland County, MichiganpathologistJack Kevorkian, fellow activist Janet Good (played bySusan Sarandon) meets Kevorkian (played byAl Pacino) during a meeting of the eastern Michigan chapter of the Hemlock Society which Good has organized.

• Compassion & Choices
• Oregon Death with Dignity Act
• Right to Die
• World Federation of Right to Die Societies

The archives of the Hemlock Society and Derek Humphry are at the Allen Library, University of Washington, Seattle, United States

• Colt, George Howe (1991).The Enigma of Suicide. New York:Summit Books.ISBN 978-0671509965.
• Côté, Richard N (2008).In search of gentle death : the fight for your right to die with dignity. Mt. Pleasant, S.C.: Corinthian Books.ISBN 978-1929175369.
• Cox, Donald W. (1993).Hemlock's Cup: The Struggle for Death With Dignity.Prometheus Books.ISBN 978-0879758080.
• Dowbiggin, Ian (2003).A Merciful End: The Euthanasia Movement in America. Oxford; New York:Oxford University Press.ISBN 978-0198035152.
• Filene, Peter G. (1998).In The Arms of Others: A Cultural History of the Right-to-Die in America. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee. p. 196.ISBN 978-1566631884.
• Glick, Henry R. (1992).The Right to Die: Policy Innovation and Its Consequences. New York:Columbia University Press.ISBN 978-0231076388.
• Hillyard, Daniel; Dombrink, John (2001).Dying Right: The Death With Dignity Movement. New York:Routledge.ISBN 978-0415927987.
• Farewell to Hemlock: Killed by its name, an essay byDerek Humphry 21 February 2005
• Humphry, Derek (2008).Good Life, Good Death – Memoir of a writer who became a euthanasia advocate. Junction City, Oregon: Norris Lane Press.ISBN 978-0976828334.
• Putnam, Constance E. (2002).Hospice or Hemlock? Searching for Heroic Compassion. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger.ISBN 978-0897899215.
• Wanzer, Sidney, MD; Glenmullen, Joseph, MD (2007).To Die Well. Your Right to Comfort, Calm and Choices in the Last Days of Your Life. Cambridge, Massachusetts:Lifelong Books/Da Capo Press,Merloyd Lawrence Books.ISBN 978-0738210834.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

• Final Exit, website of Derek Humphry
• Hemlock Foundation of Florida Inc.
• Hemlock Society of San Diego
• Compassion & Choices

• Assisted suicide in the United States

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