Posted on 07/31/2006 4:17:24 PM PDT by wagglebee
Coldwater, MI (LifeNews.com) -- Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm ordered state officials to carry out a medical examination on jailed assisted suicide crusader Jack Kevorkian. The exam comes after the Michigan Parole Board recently turned down another request to commute his sentence.
While Kevorkian and his attorney claim he has less than six months to live, the board said an independent doctor couldn't certify that.
Wanting a second opinion, Granholm wants to confirm whether the former pathologist is near death or not.
"The governor is not in the business of second-guessing our courts, but she has commuted sentences of prisoners with life-threatening conditions," Granholm spokeswoman Liz Boyd told the Associated Press.
Boyd indicated the examination had been conducted but the results had not yet been released. She indicated that Granholm had commuted the sentences of seven prisoners who were terminally ill at the time.
Corrections Department spokesman Russ Marlan indicated prisoners can only be granted a medical release if doctors determine they have less than a year to live. A parole board health review determined that wasn't the case but Marlan did not release more details on it.
The 78 year-old Kevorkian suffers from hepatitis C, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.
Kevorkian was sentenced in 1999 to a 10- to 25-year sentence after showing a videotape of him euthanizing Thomas Youk, who was in the latter stages of Lou Gehrig's disease. He has served seven years of the sentence.
He is not officially eligible for parole until 2007.
Assisted suicide is not legal in Michigan and Kevorkian would not be able to avail himself of the method of death he used to kill the more than 150 people he claims to have aided in ending their lives.
He said in a recent interview he has second thoughts about the more than 150 people he claimed to have killed through assisted suicide. He now says he should have lobbied to legalized the practice instead.
Kevorkian told the Los Angeles Times in an interview he should have "worked for a change in the law instead" of using assisted suicide to kill patients.
In a previous interview with MSNBC, Kevorkian said he would not break the law but would lobby to legalize assisted suicide throughout the country.
"I have not changed my views on assisted suicide, but I believe it should be performed legally, and I would do whatever my health permits regarding petitions, speeches, lobbying and writing in support of legalization," he told the Times.
Kevorkian said his spirits are in "fair" condition and that he suffers from depression. He indicated he no longer has the strength to read and write and spends most of his time on his prison bed.
Michigan authors and Kevorkian friends Neal Nicol and Harry Wylie say they have been helping Kevorkian to prepare a 300-page manuscript, tentatively titled "The Life of Dr. Death." Kevorkian has been shopping it around to publishers.
Oscar-winning director Barbara Kopple and producer Steve Jones plan to begin filming a movie version in Michigan later this year.
Jones says Oscar winner Ben Kingsley would head the short list of people he would like to play the imprisoned coroner. Kingsley is a three time Oscar nominee who won the award for best actor in 1982 for his role in the film Gandhi.
I take it the transcripts for Hitler's "trial" don't exist, therefore the ad hominem attacks.
It simply isn't his business at all. I would suggest that you read a little bit of this man's bio. He is a sick and morbid man. If you defend this wretch, then may God bless and forgive you.
No, I want him treated in a prison hospital. I'm not sure what I said that you are confused about.
Just trying to get your point..He is being denied treatment in the prison hospital?
I let you suck me in with your silly analogy. I have no one to blame but myself. I cede the minor point to you.
But where do you stand on assisted suicide? That is the real issue here.
I don't think he is. I am simply saying that many would prefer to see him suffer for his sins, I believe that decision is left for God.
I defend his POINT: That people have the right to take their own life and to be assisted in such a way to be as gentle as possible.
I believe suicide (assisted or otherwise) is immoral and should remain illegal.
Wow he has issues.
Do you honestly believe that a "neutral" biography will exist about someone who is so controversial?
Sigh...Is what???
Try it thos way: Is Dr Death getting medical care in prison or not?
If yes - what more do you want?
If no, well, I believe his attorneys would have brought this up. Trying to get whatever point you are trying to make. Work with me.
So, you are a Nanny Stater. No offense -- at least I understand where you stand.
OK -- let me see a few bios.
But I don't accept Wiki for anything important.
Ole Jack has psychopathic tendencies if you look at his artwork. He's obviously death obsessed, except he did state that he doesn't want assisted suicide for himself. It was good enough for the goose but not for the gander.
Goodnight!
???
They will discover he has no "heart"!
Hollywood Jenny, "good Catholic" that she is and her spokeswoman, Liz Boyd, another "good Catholic" are more concerned with the life of a convicted murderer than the life of an unborn baby
Its madness
I believe that he is receiving medical care in prison.
I DO NOT think his sentence should be commuted under any circumstances.
If the prison hospital cannot treat him, then he should be placed in a different hospital until he either dies or is able to be returned to prison to complete his sentence.
The only point I was ever trying to make was that I am not going to jump on the "let's euthanize" him bandwagon. First because I believe it is inhumane and immoral, and secondly that to do so would give his supporters a "see I told you so" opportunity.
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