Jack Kevorkian Released From Prison After Killing Patient in Euthanasia

LifeNews.com ^ | June 1, 2007 | Steven Ertelt

[monomaniac]

Lansing, MI (LifeNews.com) -- Assisted suicide crusader Jack Kevorkian was released from prison today after serving eight years of a 10 to 25 year prison sentence he received for killing a patient. Kevorkian was sent to prison in 1999 after showing a videotape on CBS News of him euthanizing Thomas Youk, who had Lou Gehrig's disease.

He smiled to a group of reporters as he walked out of the correctional facility.

“It's wonderful,” he said of his release. “It's one of the high points of life.”

However, the former pathologist didn't say much as his lawyer, Meyer Morganroth, whisked him away in a rented white van with its back windows covered.

“I thank everybody for coming,” Morganroth said. "I thank the thousands who have supported him and have written him. He just wants a little privacy for the next few days.”

But Kevorkian won't have much privacy because he's expected to participate in an interview with the television news program 60 Minutes that is scheduled to air Saturday. Host Mike Wallace greeted Kevorkian as he exited the jail with a big hug and he did not answer questions from reporters about the show, his potential interview questions or the embrace.

He also won't have many freedoms, as the terms of his parole will limit his abilities. http://www.lifenews.com/bio2109.html

Kevorkian has said he won't engage in any more assisted suicides but plans to travel extensively to advocate the passage of assisted suicide laws in states other than Oregon, the only one to have legalized the practice.

Sister Monica Kostielney, the president of the Michigan Catholic Conference, told LifeNews.com that he won't find much success there in his home state.

"Any legislative effort to decriminalize assisted suicide in this state will face the same demise as the 1998 ballot issue that was overwhelmingly rejected by a three to one margin," she said.

"Assisted suicide represents an affront to the dignity of the human person, a crime against life, and an attack on humanity -- all of which must be repudiated by elected officials and people of good will who seek to protect life from its beginning to its natural end," Kostielney added.

She said those suffering from terminal diseases or other disabilities should receive appropriate palliative care and support from family and the medical community rather than an encouragement to die.

[arderkrag]

She said those suffering from terminal diseases or other disabilities should receive appropriate palliative care and support from family and the medical community rather than an encouragement to die.

I wasn't aware it was encouragement per se, but rather what we in English-speaking countries call an "option".

[Antioch]

Dr. Death should retire and take up his brush again...

[dfwgator]

Most of Kervorkian’s victims were NOT terminally ill.

[kinoxi]

Some could argue that they were not ‘victims’. Disturbed yes. Wrong , of course.

[arderkrag]

And? How does this affect your rights?

[Mark was here]

Jack getting released is good news for the Shivo-bots as they have found a new place to roost.

Sadly, sometimes people need to let go of the pain.

[Misterioso]

Most of Kervorkian’s victims were NOT terminally ill.

Could you post a list of those "victims" or provide a web cite for verification?

[RushLake]

What is truly sad is that if you really want to let go, you put the gun in your mouth and pull the trigger. Do it outdoors away from the house so someone doesn't have to clean up your mess. There is such a thing as a slippery slope to all of this just like there was to abortion. Back at the beginning abortion was going to be "safe, rare, only in the case of rape or incest". It is rarely ever just about any of that now. So called "assisted suicide" will become, as it is in other places where it is legal, a means to end your suffering such as when mom gets to be too damned inconvenient to be a part of your selfish existence.

This pos so called doctor is nothing but the once and future face of the democrat party. Michigan's worthless democrat governor who can't get anything right; a couple of vile democrat lawyers, Jeffrey Fieger and M. Maganroth were primarily his defenders and champions.

[kinoxi]

Monomainiac is the one pushing this.

[fporretto]

Kevorkian has committed multiple homicides, expresses no regret for any of them, and maintains that what he did was morally right...and we let him out?

What's that? He promised not to do it again? Oh, well, that's all right then.

Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Eternity Road

[goldstategop]

What are we doing giving a hearing to a mass murderer? He's no hero - that Dr. Death.

Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[thegreatmalcolmx]

I have never understood why he wasn’t sent to prison for life in Texas. He could have been the death row executioner, Everyone would have been happy.

[arderkrag]

The slippery slope is a non-argument. All issues should be reviewed based on themselves, not what else you think it will bring into society.

[little jeremiah]

Later read/pingout.

[RushLake]

I understand that only Libertarians are entitled to have an opinion or pose an argument on any topic. Everyone else, or at least me, is too stupid to see your truths. Accepting that, how will you Libertarians assure that people who don’t wish to be put to death aren’t put to death? Will you regulate it? How will you regulate it, will regulations be formulated by government? If so, whose government? Will the masses of Libertarians rise up and elect a Libertarian government to assure that the government death regulations are just? Will you Libertarians need allies to achieve your ends? Will those allies be, perhaps, democrats who already don’t value life—oops that damn slippery slope argument creeps in again, can’t have that. Those fetuses aren’t valuable anyway are they except for stem cell research that has achieved nothing to date? Will those who implement those perfect deaths be clad in brown shirts or in black shirts? Since I’m not worthy of life in Libertarian land, will I be a candidate for death in your brave new non-slippery slope world? Who will make that determination? You, the DNC, the LNC, a committee of my peers? Nope, there’s no such thing as a slippery slope and I shouldn’t complain until they come for me.

[arderkrag]

Wow. What a ridiculous, flame-baiting response. Your attemots to deconstruct my argument by taking it to the utmost extreme are ridiculous. Examine every statement in its own context, without taking it to the next level. You'll sound much more credible.

The fact of the matter is, that the issue here is whether or not the people want to die. The slippery slope is still a non-argument, and your post only serves to prove that knee-jerk reactionaries will always rely on such nonsensical babble. No one ever said that "only Libertarians are entitled to have an opinion or pose an argument on any topic". However, people like you will always reach that conclusion, even with faced with just the opposite. Amazing, really that you can't review each issue on its own merits. Next thing you know, you'll be accusing me of encouraging people to die. In response, No, I wouldn't regulate such a business model. It's business, government should stay out of the final model, just like any other business. Stop making ridiculous moral arguments, such as "how will you Libertarians assure that people who don’t wish to be put to death aren’t put to death?" A far better question would be: How do you know that this will happen? And even if it does a minority of the time, we charge the guilty with murder, and move on with with our lives. Morality should not be the province of government.

And, for the record, This isn't a matter of not valuing life - it's a matter of the way rights should be determined, and how laws should be written. Unless it interferes with another citizen's rights, it should be legal. The effects on society are a seperate issue entirely, and should be left up to private citizens to determine. If you think for a second that the nanny state should mandate morality, you are no better than the liberals and socialists you claim to stand against. You have just tossed your hat safely in the side of the ring that represents goverment control taken to an extreme. No matter whether your do so (supposedly) in the name of our Lord, or just in the name of spite, you are still wrong. Government control over morality will always be wrong.

[word_warrior_bob]

The pro-death mongers sure hitched to the wrong wagon with Kevorkian.

He is more than a little slightly mentally unhinged and obsessed with a god-complex, he’s one tick away from a serial killer.

His bloodlust led him to be willing to kill just about anybody who called, if you called him and told him just about anything he would be happy to kill you.

[word_warrior_bob]

The pro-death mongers sure hitched to the wrong wagon with Kevorkian.
___

I don’t mean to condemn everyone who agrees with the right to choose their own time of death, there are some really terrifying and painful, horrible slow deaths out there that I wouldn’t pass judgement on anyone who wanted to end their suffering.

You don’t need this bloodthirsty demon Kevorkian to assist you though, he is a sick bastard.

When there comes a time that I’m drooling and in diapers I think it’s time to go. Hopefully I’ll have a good amount of percodan stored away for such an occasion.

[word_warrior_bob]

The title of this article makes Euthanasia sound like a country.

In this country Kevorkian would be President.