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Doctor accused of assisted suicide in Georgia pleads not guilty

NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted April 26, 2010

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Retired Baltimore anesthesiologist Lawrence D. Egbert, MD, and three others have pleaded not guilty to violating the Georgia law that makes it a crime to assist a suicide. The four are members of the Final Exit Network, a national group that advises terminally ill patients on how to die using a helium gas tank and a plastic hood.

Georgia's anti-assisted suicide law should be struck down because it violates free speech rights, said attorneys for Dr. Egbert and the other defendants. Prosecutors accused the four defendants of illegally assisting the June 2008 death of John Celmer, a 58-year-old with oral cancer. They also are charged with violating the state's anti-racketeering laws and tampering with evidence.

The network has aided the deaths of more than 200 people since 2005, Dr. Egbert told American Medical News last year. Dr. Egbert also faces charges related to an Arizona suicide.

Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2010/04/26/prbf0426.htm.

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