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According to court documents in the case, Blehr detailed each step of the process to an undercover agent who infiltrated the group claiming to be interested in committing suicide. Blehr told the agent that he would place the hood on top of his own head, like a shower cap, and then inflate it by turning on the helium tank. After a few breaths, she told him the "lights would go out." The guides would then let the helium tanks run for 20 minutes after they last felt his pulse to make sure he was dead. They would also stand by his side to ensure he didn't pull the bag off his head, according to the documents. Some legal experts said they hope details of the network's work would help stoke a deeper discussion over assisted suicide. William Colby, an attorney who is a fellow with the Center for Practical Bioethics, said prosecuting the group wouldn't support that goal. "People are trying to understand how we navigate the end of our lives, and we need to keep talking about it," said Colby. "But trying to round up people in groups on either extreme end of our social spectrum is not necessarily the best way to move public dialogue." Georgia prosecutors will seek to prove the four violated the state's 1994 assisted suicide law, which defines assisted suicide as anyone publicly advertising or offering to "intentionally and actively assist another person" in ending their life. To Jerry Dincin, the Final Exit Network's vice president, the prosecution is "the epitome of stupidity." And he said that the group's members didn't actively aid the suicides, but directed members to a manual called "The Final Exit" to guide them through the process. "If this case goes to court, we'll be dealing with the notion of what is
'assistance,'" he said. "If we point somebody to a book, maybe that's considered assistance in the courts. But we don't think so."
[Associated
Press;
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