A_Wanderer
ONE love, blood, life
linkCOLDWATER, 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.
A tragedy that other peoples idea of a right to life must exeed an individuals will to stop suffering.