Kevorkian paroled, did he deserve imprisonment?

[chefmike]

Dying 'Dr. Death' to Be Paroled

Dr. Kevorkian Says He Will No Longer Participate in Assisted Suicides

ABC News Law & Justice Unit
May 25, 2007


Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the man known as Dr. Death, will be released from a Michigan prison next Friday. Kevorkian spent eight years in prison for participating in an assisted suicide that he had videotaped and broadcast on television.

His attorney told ABC News' Law & Justice Unit that Kevorkian would not participate in any more assisted suicides. And he said that Kevorkian, who turns 79 Saturday, is in seriously declining health as he prepares for his parole next week.

For years, Kevorkian was at the center of a national debate around the highly controversial questions surrounding physician-assisted suicides or "mercy killings:" Do the terminally ill have the right to choose when and how they die? Do doctors have the ability, even an obligation, to help them die as they choose?

Polls suggest that a majority of Americans are in favor of physician-assisted suicide. Kevorkian's attorney, Mayer Morganroth, said his client looks back with qualified regret at the more than 100 suicides he said he assisted throughout the 1990s. It was the assisted suicide of Thomas Youk, who had Lou Gehrig's disease, whose story was broadcast on "60 Minutes" in 1998, that earned Kevorkian a prison sentence of 15 to 20 years for second degree murder.

"He realizes now that breaking laws are not going to help," said Morganroth. Instead, "he has to speak out" for the legalization of assisted suicide, "and that's it. He feels he's lost over eight years of his life. That's certainly something he's not pleased with, but he looks at it as he did something that required him to be punished. He broke a law."

"I look at it as a total waste frankly,'' Mortganroth said.

For the past eight years Kevorkian has been held at Michigan's Lakeland Correctional Facility. He will be released on June 1.

Kevorkian suffers from hepatitis C, which he contracted while serving in Vietnam. Morganroth said Kevorkian's elevated liver enzyme levels "are still very high," but until such time as it starts destroying his liver, he can still function. Morganroth said his client is also suffering from temporal arteritis, which is a hardening of the arteries in the temples.

"He's not in the best shape, but he can function,'' Morganroth said.

Morganroth said Kevorkian gets "20 to 30 to 40'' interview requests a week, and that "he gets a massive amount of correspondence from the public.

"You'd be surprised at how many people have written me and offered to have him stay at their homes when he gets out of prison," said Morganroth. "The man is an icon, but that's neither here nor there.''

Morganroth said Kevorkian will concentrate on educating the public about his position on assisted suicide and will concentrate on "writing, doing his painting and composing music.'' He will lecture -- he's been offered fees up to $100,000, but "I don't think he's going to make a career out of it.

"Money has never interested him.''

[chefmike]

I'm curious about those who believe that he should have been imprisoned, was it due to your religious beliefs or something else?

[specialk]

I'll tell you what I believe...I believe Dick Cheney should be seeing him about his heart condition....As soon as possible!!!!!! :lol:

[Quinn]

I'm curious about those who believe that he should have been imprisoned, was it due to your religious beliefs or something else?

I'm a bit curious on that matter myself. Why would any reasonable human being seek to prevent Kevorkian from assisting willing parties avoid horrendous outcomes? After watching my father die an agonizing death from Cancer, I'm convinced Kevorkian is a hero who should receive a medal, rather than be imprisoned for the sake of any barbaric and antiquated notions.

-Quinn

[chefmike]

I watched my father die of lung cancer, at the end all he could do was squeeze my hand...I sincerely hope that if something like that ever happens to me that I will be able to exit this earth in the manner that I choose...Hunter S. Thompson damn sure did.

[LG]

I watched my father die of lung cancer, at the end all he could do was squeeze my hand...


After watching my father die an agonizing death from Cancer...

Sorry to hear all this, chef and Quinn. I lost a couple of relatives to cancer and we had two close calls in my family as well. I've seen people I love fall to all kinds of diseases that slowly kill them.

I think Jack Kevorkian is giving these people something that they thought they had lost- their dignity.

Some European nations have more progressive laws than the US on euthanasia.

[General Disarray]

I really empathize with him and his patients.
They wanted help. He gave it.
case closed.

[Legend]

Sorry for your loses quinn and chef,to label dr.death as a hero and be giving a medal is ridiculous the only think he did was take advantage of people in their greatest moments of need and despair why didn't he try to help them with the treatment he is giving himself currently"music and painting"(he is suffering from cancer).If he feels what he did is correct why not live by your methods but i doubt he will use any of his barbaric methods on himself.


Dr. Kevorkian allegedly assisted only by attaching the individual to a device that he had made. The individual then pushed a button which released the drugs or chemicals that would end his or her own life. Two deaths were assisted by means of a device which employed a needle and delivered the euthanizing drugs mechanically through an IV. Kevorkian called it a "Thanatron" (death machine)



Other patients were assisted by a device which employed a gas mask fed by a canister of carbon monoxide which was called "Mercitron" (mercy machine).

[FiremanforTS]

I should reply more in depth then this, but I am drinking and busy . . .

As a paramedic there are loads of times I would have choked (I didn't) dementia and oatmeal headed old folks and kids out myself and slept like a baby! You should see the horror they live in day in and out!

To euthanize is humane....I'll leave it at that.

[chefmike]

How did he take advantage of them, Legend?

Read the article closer, he is not at the stage of suffering that cancer patients die with, his liver is still functioning and he doesn't have cancer eating away at every cell in his body. If you've never seen this happen to someone you love, I sincerely hope that you'll never have to, because you damn sure will NEVER forget it...not even in your dreams.

[TanyaShevenal]

He is suffering from hepatitis c, not cancer.

[chefmike]

He is suffering from hepatitis c, not cancer.

I'm not sure what your point is, HC is a liver disease and not technically cancer as far as I know, but they can both kill you, and the issue being discussed is about how dying people choose to die.

[Jericho]

If there ever comes a time when all hope is gone, i hope there's someone like him around for me.

[chefmike]

Well, 24 votes is about average for an HA poll if it doesn't concern sexual matters or personal attacks...but our sampling on HA is consistent with national polling, the majority favor physician-assisted suicide.

[TheOne1]

i hope he continues his practice..... when people are on hospice, they never do an autopsy to see if someone (or themselves) gave them too much pain killers to end their suffering... its a "no questions asked" thing.

[LG]

i hope he continues his practice..... when people are on hospice, they never do an autopsy to see if someone (or themselves) gave them too much pain killers to end their suffering... its a "no questions asked" thing.

Another question we can ask is: Would you be willing to do this for (or against, depending where one stands) a loved one if they asked you to?

It's a tough call to make.

http://www.hungangels.com/board/viewtopic.php?p=264962#264962

[ds5929]

Watched my father die from Parkinson's disease. Watched my mother die from Alzheimers. Watched my wife die from septic due to a perforated bowel.
I'm pretty certain that none of them would have wanted to go the way they did. My wife and are were both nurses with extensive ICU experience, so we talked about this stuff probably more than the average couple, but even with that, having to authorize the discontinuing of life support when everything medically possible had been tried and had failed- lets just say i NEVER want to have to make a decision like that ever again.

[Cuchulain]

I guess you never really know until the time comes, but I think most people would want an alternative to a slow fade out, hanging on in agony with a total loss of dignity. Chef mentioned HST - I miss his writing and his antics. I was a fan for many years and I doubt that those who really knew him were surprised at his final choice. I'll always remember those memorable lines from 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas' -

"There was no point in fighting -- on our side or theirs," he wrote. "We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave. So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark -- the place where the wave finally broke and rolled back."

The finest words he ever wrote, imo.

[Felicia Katt]

My observation: People who say they support the right to life generally mean their right to dictate how you live your life. Its the same zealotry that causes them to value a petri dish of discarded embryos more than a Parkinson's patient. Life is Sacred, witih a capitol S, meaning its a religious decision, rather than a rational one. They view life and death as God's providence. So no contraception to prevent unwanted lives, and no euthanasia to hasten wanted deaths. In a democracy, where life , liberty and the pursuit of happiness are its explicit purposes, questions like this should be about the individual's will, not God's. No one's liberty or happiness is advanced by being forced to live in prolonged hopeless agony. Assisted Suicide should be a right, and as soon we can get the religious right's grappling hooks off the wall between church and State, it will be. Hopefully before any of us have to watch a loved one suffer needlessly or worse, having our loved ones watch us do so.

FK

[LG]

My observation: People who say they support the right to life generally mean their right to dictate how you live your life. Its the same zealotry that causes them to value a petri dish of discarded embryos more than a Parkinson's patient. Life is Sacred, witih a capitol S, meaning its a religious decision, rather than a rational one. They view life and death as God's providence. So no contraception to prevent unwanted lives, and no euthanasia to hasten wanted deaths. In a democracy, where life , liberty and the pursuit of happiness are its explicit purposes, questions like this should be about the individual's will, not God's. No one's liberty or happiness is advanced by being forced to live in prolonged hopeless agony. Assisted Suicide should be a right, and as soon we can get the religious right's grappling hooks off the wall between church and State, it will be. Hopefully before any of us have to watch a loved one suffer needlessly or worse, having our loved ones watch us do so.

FK
:claps :claps :claps
I agree, although I think I'd rather suffer myself than see the ones I love die slowly and painfully. But then again I'm supposed to be a "liberal kook", according to one member here.

As for whether I'd have the courage to end a loved one's life myself, that's another matter.
http://www.hungangels.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=20527

[justatransgirl]

I am SOOO glad to hear this news. He should NEVER have been incarcerated in the first place.

He was a POLITICAL PRISIONER in my opinion. Much like consenting adults who have sex in private are "breaking" puritianical laws from centuries past.

Euthanesia is accepted in many progressive countries, and I believe even in Oregon. But because a bunch of backwards cavemen in Michigan (sorry don't mean to insult anyone in Michigan who is a progressive person) decreed a BS law this fine doctor had to lose a decade or more of his life.

I believe a sane person of free will has the born right to do as they wish with their body. Whether that is hormonal or surgery enhanced modifications or the termination of life.

Dr. Kevorkian is a hero. He enabled people who would otherwise have to either suffer or die a messy death to pass in a dignified and comfortable manner.

I am just so sorry that I was so wrapped up in my own affairs to get involved in his suffering.

That's what is so wrong withour society. Everyone who stands against tyranny, stands alone. Nobody stands together. If we did, things would change. When you consider the tens of thousands of people each year who are arrested for having consensual sex in private - and every one fights their battle against state repression alone.

Just my opinion,
TS Jamie

[Legend]

Assisted sucide is wrong on so many levels as human beings i think its our duty to protect and preserve life to allow someone such as dr. death to destroy a human life is wrong,i just feel that we as human beings shouldn't be trying to destroy a human life but preserve it,assisted sucide is nothing more then second degree murder in my opinion just look at it like that anyone who attempts to assist in those sucides are basically a killer.

And to think that doctors all of people who actually would take a human life instead of preserving it is quite sickening.Those people are not heroes or anything but killers in my opinion.This issue shouldn't have anything to do with religion or goverment but respect for human life.

[Felicia Katt]

Repect for life should mean recognizing that its the person's life, not the Government's. No one's life is taken. Instead, their life is given, by their choice.

You really should read more about the way things work before making such grand, moral statements. Preserving life isn't always the same as prolonging it. Assisted suicide is only for the gravely terminal ill where there is no hope except that their pain and suffering will end. The person will die, the question is only when, and after how much unnecessary agony.

FK

[chefmike]

Assisted suicide is wrong on so many levels as human beings i think its our duty to protect and preserve life...

I wonder if you will continue to make such judgemental and self-righteous statements when you have a loved one who is dying a slow and agonizing death with no chance of recovery. Because I know a little about these matters, as do many other posters in this thread. I'm not trying to turn this into a pity-party, but in addition to my father dying of lung cancer at age 56, I also lost a grandfather to cancer, and I lost both of my grandmothers to AZ. My maternal grandfather was the fortunate one, he dropped dead of a stroke when I was six years old, and he never had to live through the indignity that many stroke patients endure.

So maybe you should walk a mile in another person's moccasins before you make such grandiose judgements, legend. If you choose to standby and let a loved one die an agonizing death, or even if you choose to let yourself die that way, that is your decision. Just as it should be my choice not to die in that manner.

[ezed]

I voted on this poll. And voted for kevorkian. I read LG's thread ...was going to respond but didn't. I've been thru this once with my mother, I'm going thru it now with my father.

With my mother,

Sorry I can't talk about this

Legend, don't make sanctimonius statements till you've been in the sitiuation.

Only then, will you know what you will do.

[chefmike]

It's a tough subject, and I wonder if I should have even brought it up...a poll is such a trivial matter when you consider the topic discussed, but nobody lives forever, so we should all give it at the very least a passing thought. This thread has brought back unpleasant memories that make me feel as though I was sucker-punched in the stomach, and I'm not ashamed to say that it has brought tears to my eyes reading other posters feelings about this subject, also...

[ezed]

It's a tough subject, and I wonder if I should have even brought it up...a poll is such a trivial matter when you consider the topic discussed, but nobody lives forever, so we should all give it at the very least a passing thought. This thread has brought back unpleasant memories that make me feel as though I was sucker-punched in the stomach, and I'm not ashamed to say that it has brought tears to my eyes reading other posters feelings about this subject, also...

I know what you mean, peace man.

[TJ347]

Just a question... If I were suffering from some dread disease that left me wracked with pain and was incurable, why would I need Jack Kevorkian to assist me in ending my life? I mean, I have no problem with what he does whatsoever, but I don't know why those people can't inhale gas or whatever on their own. A bottle of Jack Daniels, a whole lot of pills, and a plastic bag would do just as effective a job as a carefully crafted machine made by Dr. Kevorkian, correct?

[Jericho]

Just a question... If I were suffering from some dread disease that left me wracked with pain and was incurable, why would I need Jack Kevorkian to assist me in ending my life? I mean, I have no problem with what he does whatsoever, but I don't know why those people can't inhale gas or whatever on their own. A bottle of Jack Daniels, a whole lot of pills, and a plastic bag would do just as effective a job as a carefully crafted machine made by Dr. Kevorkian, correct?

A couple of reasons that spring to mind, i'm sure there are more.
If you were too frail to do it yourself?
If you had no one else and you didn't want to die alone, or even because of religious reasons, maybe.
Having someone 'kill you' [even though you desperately wanted it,] would relieve you of the moral ambiguities of suicide.

[Felicia Katt]

Just a question... If I were suffering from some dread disease that left me wracked with pain and was incurable, why would I need Jack Kevorkian to assist me in ending my life? I mean, I have no problem with what he does whatsoever, but I don't know why those people can't inhale gas or whatever on their own. A bottle of Jack Daniels, a whole lot of pills, and a plastic bag would do just as effective a job as a carefully crafted machine made by Dr. Kevorkian, correct?
If you had an inflamed appendix, or an impacted wisdom tooth, I guess you could probably take care of them yourself too, with a swiss army knife, or a pair of pliers. But would you? Or, really, should you have to? You might get it done, but you might do more harm than good. Getting peritonitis or an abscess in your skull from botched treatment would be pretty bad. Ending up disabled or incapacitated from a botched suicide would be even worse.

FK

[TJ347]

Before Dr. Kevorkian, there were countless people who, facing no hope of medical cures for their ailments, took their own lives or were assisted in doing so by family, friends and so forth. That said, there is no real need for his services, other than for the reasons Jericho has brought up, which surely cannot apply to each and ever client Dr. Kevorkian has assisted in taking their lives. If a person is determined to die, and no one else intercedes, my position is that they will die. If I were in their position, I would not have needed help, unless I was a parapelegic, or too destitute to purchase the necessary items. That's all I was trying to say.

[chefmike]

Or perhaps you should consider taking your own life even sooner, you supercilious piece of pond scum....just don't forget to leave a post-it note on the 'frig, zippy...there must be someone, somewhere who will be curious about the smell...

[LG]

I voted on this poll. And voted for kevorkian. I read LG's thread ...was going to respond but didn't. I've been thru this once with my mother, I'm going thru it now with my father.

With my mother,

Sorry I can't talk about this


I'm sorry to hear this, man. I know how it feels. I wish I could say something to make this better but I can't. I know that nothing can and the only thing that heals us is time.

[TJ347]

Or perhaps you should consider taking your own life even sooner, you supercilious piece of pond scum....just don't forget to leave a post-it note on the 'frig, zippy...there must be someone, somewhere who will be curious about the smell...

About what I'd expect. Slight surprise at the use of "supercilious", but otherwise, about what I'd expect. Am I to be offended? Should I cry? Or should I dismiss this comment, as well as all previous and future comments, as the incoherent chatter of a man whose self-importance forces him to communicate with virtually everyone in this most juvenile manner? I think the answer is quite clear.

[chefmike]

I agree. Please feel free to fuck off at any time, serpent.

[TJ347]

Class. If you aren't born with it, clearly you sure as hell can't buy it.

[chefmike]

I suspect that your idea of class is buying designer clothes at walmart, sport.

Later...

[TJ347]

Point proven, for the umpteenth time.

[chefmike]

I agree, peckerwood!

You have indeed proven yourself for the umpteenth time to be a pompous jackass, sport.

But nevertheless, your drivel has unarguably sullied this thread enough thus far....so I'm afraid that I will have to put you on ignore, as far as this thread is concerned anyway, squirrel nuts...but I will be looking in on your hummingbird ass from time to time in other threads...and of course I reserve the right to ridicule you for being the inconsequential chump that you are.

Later for you, schmuck.... 8)

[TJ347]

That's great, internet warrior. You'll be communicating with yourself from here on out though.

[chefmike]

Welcome Back Dr. Jack!!
Tom D'Antoni

Welcome back, Dr. Jack!

While you were gone we here in Oregon passed the nation's first and most logical Physician-Assisted Suicide law, the Oregon Death With Dignity Act. Under it, after a process involving two doctors, and a lot of other screening, those who have a prognosis of six months to live or less, can get (usually) a fatal dose of liquid Nembutal and die peacefully, surrounded by family and friends (if they choose) or in solitude.

The religious fanatics who run things in Washington tried to knock out the law, Dr. Jack. It went to the U.S. Supreme Court. We won.

We're sorry you went to jail for the concept of controlling one's death the way one controls one's life.

We wish you had been able to control your own life these past years, when you were locked away.

The vanguard of any movement begins with those who push the limits outrageously. You did that. We understand. We may have disagreed with some of your tactics, but we know where you're coming from ... a sense of medical ethics that says, "The patient is the boss. The patient has the right to die as he chooses."

The rest of the country? Consider this. Consider that you have been diagnosed with a terrible lung disease that will cause you to be shorter and shorter of breath, gradually getting worse day after day. You find yourself gasping for breath and know that soon you will suffocate to death ... as though someone put a pillow over your head.

Say you knew someone who had had the same disease, and you saw how he deteriorated. You watched him gasp for breath. You knew he was going to suffocate one day soon. And now it's you. You're going to suffocate to death. A long, lingering terrifying death.

What would you want to do? If you were not bound to a rigid and illogical set of religious rules, most likely you would say, "I want out before I get like that. I know what is my fate. Don't make me suffer. Please don't let me suffocate."

Right now, the politicians answer is, "Sorry, Charlie. Take a hike."

The dirty little secret is that, all over America, doctors and nurses are conspiring to help such people die. They take the risk of losing their careers and even facing jail time if caught. They don't get caught. They do help people die.

Everybody else looks the other way. Does this make sense to you?

I'm pleading your case, Dr. Jack.

We're glad you're back. I have the feeling we haven't heard the last from you.

I hope not.

[chefmike]

PAGING DR. KEVORKIAN!

Your services are needed at the whitehouse immediately!

[Boldlygonedownbefore]

Tough call either way...nobody wants to see a loved one die. I work in an ICU & it's tough taking care of someone as an employee & it's even tougher to watch some families who "care" but can't handle in the actual physical & even mental care of their loved one. I'd have to agree w/ds5929.

I'm not going to criticize any one viewpoint, but if you really really really really care about the issue perhaps you should go volunteer in a hospital for 1-2 times in an ICU so you can see what real pain is like.

Whovever thinks there is some grand consipiracy of doctors and nurses....step into my world for a week b/c you couldn't handle it.

[hippifried]

...No I don't think I need any shots today, doc. No really I swear! It's just a stubbed toe...