Kevorkian Released

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A_Wanderer

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COLDWATER, Mich. (AP) - Jack Kevorkian, the retired pathologist dubbed ``Dr. Death'' for claims that he participated in at least 130 assisted suicides, left prison after eight years Friday still believing people have the right to die.

A smiling Kevorkian said it was ``one of the high points of life'' as he walked out with his attorney and ``60 Minutes'' correspondent Mike Wallace.

Inmates inside the prison had been milling about all morning for a glimpse of the 79-year-old, while reporters and television vans greeted him on the outside with cameras and questions.

Kevorkian attorney Mayer Morganroth said his client planned a news conference next week.

Throughout the 1990s, Kevorkian challenged authorities to make his actions legal - or try to stop him. He burned state orders against him and showed up at court in costume.

``You think I'm going to obey the law? You're crazy,'' he said in 1998 shortly before he was accused - and then convicted - of murder after injecting lethal drugs into Thomas Youk, 52, an Oakland County man suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease.

That conviction earned Kevorkian a 10- to 25-year sentence for second degree murder, but he earned time off his sentence for good behavior.

He is expected to now move to Bloomfield Hills, just outside Detroit, where he will live with friends and resume the artistic and musical hobbies he missed in prison. His lawyer and friends have said he plans to live on a small pension and Social Security while doing some writing and make some speeches.

Kevorkian has promised never to help in another assisted suicide. But Ruth Holmes, who has worked as his legal assistant and handled his correspondence while he was in prison, said his views on the subject haven't changed.

``This should be a matter that is handled as a fundamental human right that is between the patient, the doctor, his family and his God,'' Holmes said of Kevorkian's beliefs.

In a recent interview, Kevorkian also made it clear that his support for letting people decide when they want to die hasn't wavered.

``It's got to be legalized. That's the point,'' he told WJBK-TV in Detroit. ``I'll work to have it legalized. But I won't break any laws doing it.''

The Michigan Catholic Conference says it will oppose any effort to renew the push for assisted suicide in Michigan.
link

A tragedy that other peoples idea of a right to life must exeed an individuals will to stop suffering.
 
This is an area of law I think will see some change. It's already begun in parts of the world.
 
This man creeps me out, and after initail reports of changing, he has not, which is sad.

dbs
 
Kevorkian has promised never to help in another assisted suicide. But Ruth Holmes, who has worked as his legal assistant and handled his correspondence while he was in prison, said his views on the subject haven't changed.

"This should be a matter that is handled as a fundamental human right that is between the patient,
the doctor, his family and his God,"

Holmes said of Kevorkian's beliefs.
 
martha said:
Most of the people he killed were women.

Do you actually believe this was a causal factor? Or was it a statistical correlation based on other things?

I do believe euthanasia will be legalized in Canada within the next 2 decades.
 
the fellow is a ghoul, and that he killed more women suggests that he played with their emotions to do this.

dbs
 
diamond said:
the fellow is a ghoul, and that he killed more women suggests that he played with their emotions to do this.

dbs

Except that would be contrary to all the research out there that demonstrates that women cope far better with chronic and terminal illness.

If anything, the suggestion that women are emotionally more prone to making this decision is an eyebrow raiser in itself.
 
martha said:


I don't know. I don't even know how I feel about Kevorkian.


Hi Martha,

I think yours is a rational and fair-minded response.

Unless one knows someone that was one of the people Kevorkian assisted,
how can they be sure it was wrong?

I don't believe he killed anyone.
I believe the people sought him out, but they ended their own lives.

And I don't think it is wrong.
 
If I'm dying, and I'm in constant pain, why should I live in that pain?

If my doctors tell me there's nothing we can do and I've traveled every avenue, I would want to make my peace and leave on my own terms.
 
anitram said:
Except that would be contrary to all the research out there that demonstrates that women cope far better with chronic and terminal illness.

If anything, the suggestion that women are emotionally more prone to making this decision is an eyebrow raiser in itself.

I think you've nailed it here, IMO.
 
martha said:


This is where we differ. I do think that ending your own life is wrong.

Of course, I've never been in a position like the one those people faced.

But I've also never really trusted Kevorkian.

I don't know about the cases here.

But in general it is not ending life. The life has gone before. This is ending going through hell, unimaginable pain and useless intoxication of tons of medicine that just rescues you to the next day only that on your gravestone the final date won't be today, but tomorrow, or the day after.
It is worse than torture, and people get denied the right to decide when they want to stop this torment.
 
When my grandmother was dying, she unfortunately did not have a formal DNR. My aunt had her intubated and treated aggressively, contrary to the wishes of my mother. So instead of dying, my grandmother got to suffer for 3 weeks with sepsis, bed sores the size of a fist that went down to her bone, completely unconscious and unable to communicate or sense anything, in pain and agony.

Why would it have been wrong to administer potassium to her and take her out of her misery in 30 seconds? What was gained by her "living" an extra 3 weeks in this condition? There are no benefits whatsoever, and the tolls are enormous. It was an eye opening experience for me. We have a right to decide when there is no more quality of life left. Just because your heart is beating does not mean you are alive.
 
^ I understand what you are saying, and I have sympathy for her, and your, situation.

A DNR order and Kevorkian administering poison in the back of his van are two different things to me.


eta: Assisted suicide is a troubling thing for me, although I tend to lean toward individual choice, as usual. It's Kevorkian himself I have problems with.
 
I agree Martha. There's something about Dr. Death that just doesn't pass the smell test with me.

I don't have a problem with assisted suicides, I think doctors ought to be able to provide that to their patients if that's what they really want. But the way this guy went about it...well, "ghoul" was used earlier, seems appropriate.
 
This is a true story.

One day when Jon came into the office I said "Hello, Jon".

He looked straight into my eyes and said nothing.
But he did communicate a response to me.

It was an acknowledgement of my greeting
and also the most profound sadness I have ever felt.

I asked Linda, "Is Jon, OK?"
She said, "Jon has throat cancer and has had his tongue and part of his throat removed."

I went to my office and sat down.
I had never imagined life without my tongue.

Aside, from not being able to talk. Could one eat solid food?
Would one still have their sense of taste? Smell?
How could one express physical love and intimacy?

I wondered how sick Jon was.
What I would say to him?
How would he even respond to me?
 
I do not have a problem with people choosing to die if they are in their right mind. What I don't like is someone else deciding for them most likely for their own convenience and then passing it off as the patients' 'wishes'. We really don't know if they can't speak rationally for themselves. It's scary to think someone's spouse or family member may have someone rubbed out to get rid of the burden that way. But overall I don't think right to die should be illegal. He is a weird old fart though.
 
He was on Larry King last night and said he couldn't remember the "case" of a 35 year old woman who had MS whose family had no idea she was ending her life and said she had depression. As Larry King reminded him, depression is consistently associated with MS. Kevorkian's response was basically that if a person appeared to be depressed he would send them to a psychiatrist. I think anyone who is considering assisted suicide should have a mandatory psychiatric evaluation beforehand. You can't diagnose depression from appearances.

If I had helped 130 people die you can bet your butt I'd remember every single one of them. I don't think he has memory loss, he seems to me to be quite sharp and lucid. They showed her picture and he still couldn't remember her "case"?
 
I'm glad he was released. I've always believed the man to be a humanitarian, and my belief was reinvigorated with the 60 Minutes piece a week ago. The guy was suffering and he wanted to die. I would, too. I hope the judge who sentenced him dies a slow painful death, and sees the error of her ways.
 
^Don't be ridiculous (in reference to your final statement).......as it stands assisted suicide is illegal. I don't know much about the case, but the judge could only sentence within the confines of the law....the law then is where you should vent your anger, not the judge.
 
Muldfeld said:
I'm glad he was released. I've always believed the man to be a humanitarian, and my belief was reinvigorated with the 60 Minutes piece a week ago. The guy was suffering and he wanted to die.

Our 60 Minutes aired your story last night. It was certainly fascinating. It seemed as though a lot of the fight has left him, not that he is not adamant anymore in his beliefs; he seems to be slowing down, just waiting for the rest of us to get to where he is in terms of how we view it.

I don't think he is a ghoul. I don't think it is even about humanitarianism. I'm probably sounding like a cracked record to anyone who listens, but we turn off life support machines every single day. Doctors do what he does with comatose patients all the time. Doctors give up resuscitation, declaring it futile. Dare I even mention Terri Schiavo? His patients are conscious. Is that the only difference? These are people who are at the end of their lives.

I'm not sure what I think. I support euthanasia. I support the fight for it as a right. The figures for Ohio are fascinating. 300 have chosen this since its legal inception?
 
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