San Diego Crisis Clinic Chief to Head Hemlock Society

The administrator of a San Diego crisis counseling clinic will assume the leadership of the controversial Hemlock Society, spearheading the so-called death with dignity movement, officials said Monday.

The Hemlock Society’s board of directors appointed John A. Pridonoff as its executive director effective October, 1992. Pridonoff will succeed Derek Humphry, founder of the movement championing a terminally ill patient’s right to choose death and author of “Final Exit,” a national bestseller.

Pridonoff, with his background in psychology and theology, has been involved with death and dying for more than 25 years. Since 1968, he has been administrator of The Counseling Center in San Diego, a nonprofit organization providing trauma, grief, pastoral and crisis intervention counseling to medical professionals and other caregivers.

He has also served as editor of “The Forum,” the national newsletter of the Assn. for Death Education and Counseling.

Currently, physician-assisted suicides are against the law. However, Californians in November will vote on a measure that would make the actions legal.

“I have been faced too many times with instances of people dying, stripped of their dignity, integrity and sense of self-respect,” Pridonoff said. “It’s not that I feel terminally ill people should do this but that terminally ill should be able to discuss this without the intrusion of organized religion or organized government beyond the appropriate safety structures within the law.”

Pridonoff was selected from a field of 65 candidates to head the Hemlock Society, which was founded in 1980 and has a national membership of 50,000 with 90 chapters throughout the United States. In California, there are 15 chapters.

Officials expect that Pridonoff will bring more of a counselor’s orientation to the organization.

“He has a background in psychology and therapy; Humphry was a journalist,” said Kris Larson, editor of the Hemlock Quarterly. “This will change the focus.”

In 1992, Pridonoff received recognition from San Diego Mayor Maureen O’Connor for his outstanding involvement in issues relating to the psychological, emotional and spiritual care of the terminally ill. Working with patients, their families and loved ones, Pridonoff provided professional support through church parishes, social service agencies, public discussion and personal intervention.

“I believe that the Hemlock Society should strongly support the sanctity of the doctor-patient relationship. No political or religious institution should be able to intrude on that relationship,” Pridonoff explained. “Complete medical care should include, under carefully restricted conditions, the option of physician-assisted death for terminally ill patients.”