Jana Van Voorhis

Jana Van Voorhis (1949-2007) was a 58 year old Phoenix, Arizona woman whose suicide was assisted by two elderly members of the Final Exit Network, an offshoot of the now defunct Hemlock Society, an incident that led to pending criminal charges. The two "senior" guides Wye Hale-Rowe, 79, a retired family therapist and great-grandmother and Frank Langsner, a retired college professor, allegedly supplied the helium that Van Voorhis used to suffocate herself. The case drew significant attention from professional bioethicists, such as Wesley J. Smith, because of Van Voorhis's longstanding history of mental illness. Van Voorhis's death and the subsequent investigation were also featured on KPHO (CBS-5) in Phoenix. It may be the first case in the United States to test the degree to which the mentally ill have a right to assisted suicide.

The death of Van Voorhis has drawn widespread condemnation from religious and anti-euthanasia groups in Arizona. In contrast, advocates of physician-assisted suicide such as Prof. Jacob Appel of Brown University have argued that the Van Voorhis case demonstrates why assisted suicide should take place in the context of the medical system with licensed health care professionals counseling the patient.