Right-to-die group fined $30,000 for assisting Minnesota woman's suicide
A national right-to-die group has been fined $30,000 for assisting in the 2007 suicide of a Minnesota woman.
Final Exit Network Inc. was convicted in May of a felony for helping Doreen Dunn commit suicide and interfering with a death scene, the Associated Press and the Minneapolis Star Tribune report.
In addition to the fine, the group was ordered to pay nearly $3,000 to Dunn’s family to cover funeral expenses.
Dakota County Judge Christian Wilton gave the group until Oct. 2 to pay the fine, which was the maximum allowable under the law. He also placed the group on probation until the fine is paid.
Robert Rivas, an attorney for Final Exit Network, said the group is “unrepentant” and will pay the fine this week in order to continue operating in Minnesota. He also said the group will appeal the conviction.
But Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom said his office is considering seeking an injunction to block the group’s activities, which he said are illegal and “morally reprehensible.”
Dunn, 57, took her own life in 2007 after suffering from chronic pain for more than decade.
Her husband, Mark, told the judge Monday that the group acted with “calculated, cruel disregard” for others when it helped his wife commit suicide. Mark Dunn had arrived home to find his wife’s dead body on their couch in 2007, and only learned in 2009 that Final Exit Network had assisted her suicide. The group had removed the helium equipment Doreen Dunn had used in her suicide before Mark Dunn returned home. She had not told her family she was contemplating suicide.
“No one should have to go through this just because a few others are so utterly convinced, to the certainty of death, that they are right,” he said.
Backstrom said criminal charges are still pending against two of the group’s members, including Dr. Larry Egbert, its former medical director, who served as one of Dunn’s “exit guides.”
