Posted on 05/26/2006 10:37:54 AM PDT by Abathar
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.
For years, Kevorkian was the center of a national debate around the highly controversial questions surrounding physician-assisted suicide or "mercy killing:" 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?
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, 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 [of physician-assisted suicide]," 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'
Less than a week ago, Morganroth publicly stated that doctors had told Kevorkian he had less than a year to live.
Kevorkian suffers from Hepatitis C, which he contracted during service in Vietnam. Morganroth said Kevorkian's liver enzyme levels were three to four times above normal — a clear signal his liver was failing.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Yeah, this guy is sick in the head. You can bet he didn't acquire his death outlook in his later years in life.
I remember he put a proposal to the Pentagon for soldiers to be given a blood transfusion kit in case they where wounded in battle they would go up to the dead and dying on the battle field and just take their blood to stay alive! Goulish! The government turned him down.
you know, the Democrats' slogan should be... (read my tagline, brand new, spurred by your post!)
you know, the Democrats' slogan should be... (read my tagline, brand new, spurred by your post!)
Facinating.
I notice he isn't asking for assisted suicide for himself.
Much as I dislike what he did during his lifetime, I do pray that he makes things right with his Maker before going to meet Him and makes things right with the society he has wronged as well. A recanting of his position would be welcome and hopefully help to restrain some of the evil he's promoted.
Mors Vincet Omnia! (Death conquers all!): The permanet motto and platform of the evil 'rats and every crooked managed care HMO in America!
He did unto others when they were dying -- will he do it unto himself? I doubt it.
Yep. But still sad to see such a noble mule used to illustrate the party of DEATH. Their symbol should be a parsnip, or a Brussels sprout, or something REEEEELY nasty...
I have always held that Kevorkian was a serial killer who thought he had found the perfect cover.
good theory. i could see that
> Message to Jack: you'd better hope that you guessed correctly regarding the existence of God and judgment in some "after-life",'cause if you guessed wrong,you're gonna have a serious problem in the not-too-distant future.
Same message to everyone everywhere. Have you accepted Crom yet? Or will you spend eternity in Hell?
Jack the Crypt Keeper
IIRC, several of his victims were not terminally ill.
No, he's sorry he didn't go about it in a more productive manner.
Someone is waiting for him, but I doubt it's God...
There's a difference between saving the lives of young warriors who want to live and helping the terminally ill end their suffering at their request.
Getting a little close to the Great White Thrown Judgement for him? Smelling Smoke?
No, he just thought that enough people thought the way he did that he would get acquitted in a jury trial, that and the fact the guy had to push the button himself to get the gas. Jeffery Figer was his attorney back then, they should have through him in the cell next to him as far as I am concerned.
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