Woman selling 'suicide kits' reignites right-to-die debate

Sharlotte Hydorn, 91, is interviewed by local media outlets at her home in El Cajon. The great grandmother sells "suicide kits" for $60 apiece by mail. (Marty Graham, Reuters)

Sharlotte Hydorn, 91, says she's 'just interested in helping people' who might otherwise suffer painful deaths. FBI agents raided her home last week in an investigation of possible mail fraud or other violations.

By Richard Marosi,
Los Angeles Times
6:24 PM PDT, May 30, 2011

Reporting from El Cajon, Calif.

Sharlotte Hydorn peddles a product touted for its deadly simplicity. Inside her butterfly-decorated boxes are clear plastic bags and medical-grade tubing. A customer places the bag over his head, connects the tubing from the bag to a helium tank, turns the valve and breathes. The so-called suicide kit asphyxiates a customer within minutes.

Orders come from all over the world, from people young and old, depressed and terminally ill. "People commit suicide by jumping out of windows and buildings, and hanging themselves," said the 91-year-old former elementary school science teacher. Her product, she says, ends lives peacefully, leaving people "eternally sleepy."

In December, one of Hydorn's $60 devices was found over the head of a dead 29-year-old man from Eugene, Ore. His death triggered a wave of media attention that doubled her orders to 100 per month, but placed Hydorn under scrutiny from politicians and law enforcement agencies that culminated last week with a raid of her ranch-style home outside San Diego.

FBI agents seized dozens of boxes ready for shipment as part of an investigation into possible mail or wire fraud violations and whether Hydorn has violated a law prohibiting the sale of adulterated and mishandled medical devices. In Oregon, where assisted-suicide is legal under certain conditions, lawmakers have introduced a bill that would outlaw any device sold with the intent that another person use it to commit suicide.

(More here.)