[4][5] Despite the controversy, Final Exit reached #1 on The New York Times Best Seller list in August 1991.

[7] Final Exit is Derek Humphry's third book on the subject of self-euthanasia; it was preceded by Jean's Way (1978) and The Right to Die: Understanding Euthanasia (1986).

In 1991, Final Exit spent 18 weeks on The New York Times non-fiction Best Seller list, it reached #1 in August and was selected by USA Today in 2007 as one of the 25 most influential books of the quarter century.

The ethicist Peter Singer included it on a list of his top ten books in The Guardian.

[13] It has been alleged that members of the Heaven's Gate cult used information from Humphry's book in order to commit mass suicide.