Dying 'Dr. Death' Has Second Thoughts About Assisting Suicides

http://abcnews.go.com/US/LegalCenter/story?id=2008364&page=1

Dying 'Dr. Death' Has Second Thoughts About Assisting Suicides

Jack Kevorkian Still Supports Movement, but Has Misgivings About His Methods

By LARA SETRAKIAN and ABC News' Law & Justice Unit

May 26, 2006 — - Today, on his 78th birthday, Jack Kevorkian, the man known as "Dr. Death," is slowly dying in prison.

And, according to his lawyer, Kevorkian seems to have second thoughts about helping people die.

(snip)

Now, as he sits in jail, Kevorkian may have had a change of heart -- not about his dedication to the "death with dignity" movement, but on how he went about promoting it.

Specifically, his lawyer suggests, he questions the more than 100 suicides he said he assisted throughout the 1990s. One assisted suicide -- the death of Lou Gehrig's disease patient Thomas Youk, which was taped and broadcast on "60 Minutes" in 1998 -- earned him a prison sentence of 15 years to 20 years for second degree murder.

"He did what he did, and it brought it to public awareness ," said Kevorkian's attorney, Mayer Morganroth. "He now realizes that having performed it when it was against the law, wasn't the, probably, appropriate way to go about it. … What he should have done was work towards its legalization verbally. … Pursuing that cause, and not performing it because it still was against the law."

'He Gets Depressed at Times'

(snip)

link: http://abcnews.go.com/US/LegalCenter/story?id=2008364&page=1

peaceful.

I unfortunately think Kevorkian may be right. He probably would have done more to further the dialogue of assisted suicide by staying a free man. His "martyrdom" seems to have frozen the movement in its tracks.

I am all for the terminally ill being able to off themselves in the least painful way possible, if they ask for it themselves.

However, one of the early deaths was of a woman with cerebral palsy. The fact that she even felt the need to off herself is a deeper problem than her medical condition. He should have refused her. She needed better doctors and probably needed a shrink.

His biggest mistake was picking a fight with the Oakland County prosecutor's office. When he had Fieger representing him and Dick Thompson was the prosecutor, it worked because Thompson was not a very good prosecutor. When Gorcyca took over, and Kervorkian fired Fieger, he was screwed. Gorcyca, despite being a republican, is a pretty good prosecutor (better than Marlinga, the dem ex-prosecutor of my neighboring county-I voted republican in that race). Dr. K put his tape on 60 Minutes.

You know that Kervorkian only killed one person in Wayne County, at Belle Isle, in Detroit. That was because John O'Hara, the Wayne county prosecutor at the time, didn't prosecute him because he was a member of the Hemlock Society. No court battle and subsequent publicity led the doctor to work exclusively in Oakland County from that point on.

I'm not big on a guy who makes a martyr of himself in such a way. By crossing too many lines about what is a terminal illness and what is not, he did great damage to the issue of assisting the terminally ill end their lives in peace.

I don't know that I'm the one to judge when somebody is in too much pain to live, but like you say there were several that he took on that I thought might be more people who needed treatment for depression related to a chronic medical problem rather than suicide. I do support assisted suicide though and don't think Dr. Jack should be in the slammer.

If a person is in mental anguish, is that any worst than actual physical pain. I'm not sure. For the people who are going to commit suicide... should there not be a better way than hanging yourself in a closet... I'm not sure. But who decides for a single person what is best for them?

But if it was a friend of mine I'd want to know that they had at least made a good attempt at getting treated before they impulsively decided to kill themselves. Also I have seen a lot of clients depressed to the point of suicide after medical problems who later bounced back.

I agree.

that no one else wanted to help promote. He may regret his methods of advancing the cause, but he deserves a great deal of credit and gratitude.

Too bad the people who support death in war can't support death with dignity here @ home.

whose incompetence put him in jail in the first place--oh, wait, that lawyer was HIM!

:eyes:
rocknation

After all this time, on his deathbed, he decides to confess to his errors? Unless he is trying to talk up parole, it makes little sense.

it's not a "confession" of anything.

But the main question was why now? Is he supposed to fear the revenge of the Deity? Even if he does regret being incarcerated, which is the substance of this, why go public now?

he still supports that. he is regretting that he wasn't smarter about how to gain support for the issue.

It was pretty clear in the story.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, but its obvious there is a motive to his lawyer releasing this information. I hope it works.

I had an online friend whose lover was towards the end. The doctor gave him two vials and told him to mix the two in a cup full of water when he was ready for it. They never used it, but still....Jack never changed his position....as long as everyone remembers that!!

is a fine cause but he didn't pick the best cases to make his point with. Far too many weren't terminal, but had disabilities or chronic illnesses. Many had multiple sclerosis and some had minor children. I'd know about those because I have MS and my clients and younger family members would just flip out and ask things like was I dying and not telling them?

It was in my state so we heard more about the people. The whole question of "death with dignity" if someone has a condition that might become disabling (or might not) but is not terminal really went beyond the cause of peaceful death for the dying. Helping the depressed kill themselves is not the highest calling.

I know it isn't our place to judge another's decision, especially a stranger. But I'm not sure it was his place or the place of society to invite them to kill themselves either. I'm not sure what his point was killing someone on TV either, that takes a bit way from the dignity.

Oregon's law is merciful but the guidelines are clear. Many people get the option but in the end don't take it, but we should have that option.

Who knows if he wants to get out of jail or if nearing the end of life he is rethinking things, as people do. But I think he is right that while his cause was good his methods and choices didn't do a lot of good.

and look at terminal people differently.

because of dr kevorkian -- and others -- we will someday have a more rational and sane response to people in deep pain and no way back from the brink.