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!!!!!!

[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.