Kevorkian to Be Paroled in June

AP ^ | 12/13/06 | KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN

[Lunatic Fringe]

LANSING, Mich. (AP) Michigan officials say assisted suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian will be paroled in June.

[Tribune7]

But think about how we see distortion in the MSM every day--why should we believe uncritically what they say in this case?

Because he and his attorney hate Christianity. The MSM avoids attacking those who hate Christianity.

[lowbridge]

You also miss the point with "who's gonna bust them for illegal drugs after they've killed themselves." It's the physicians who have to worry about that.

How? If a physician prescribes drugs for a patient, then how is that illegal drugs? I mean, if the patient decides to use them for a purpose than otherweise prescribed for, unless the patient told the doctor what he/she was really up to with the drugs, then the doctor isnt at fault.

If you don't suggest the legal availability of these medications,

I am suggesting that a person could ask for legal drugs from his doctor then use them for some other purpose. (note: I am not saying that a person should do that. I am just giving a hypothetical situation here)

then are you advocating these poor people having to go out and burglarize pharmacies or make back-alley drug deals?

I am not suggesting anythin. I am giving out a hypothetical situation.

[Gondring]

I am suggesting that a person could ask for legal drugs from his doctor then use them for some other purpose.

Seconol isn't even manufacturered anymore...it's not like anyone can just walk in and say, "prescribe me barbituates" and get them for some other purpose. And even if they could, that right there is the need for another person.

[Gondring]

Why doesn't everybody stop the emotional outbursts and read up on what this ghoul Kevorkian really did. (BTW--he was a pathologist, not a physician.)

Okay, I did. And I find that you're full of BULLONEY!

He is a physician. He also got his board certification in pathology (licensed in Pathological Anatomy by 1960, and in Clinical Pathology in 1965).

He graduated from U of Mich medical school in 1952 and did internship in pathology at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit (this is where his inspiration to find ways to relieve the suffering of his patients started--when he observed the horrific pain in terminal patient dying of cancer).

"The patient was a helplessly immobile woman of middle age, her entire body jaundiced to an intense yellow-brown, skin stretched paper-thin over a fluid-filled abdomen swollen to four or five times normal size. The rest of her was an emaciated skeleton: sagging, discolored skin covered her bones like a cheap, wrinkled frock.

"The poor wretch stared up at me with yellow eyeballs sunken in their atrophic sockets. Her yellow teeth were ringed by chapping and parched lips to form an involuntary, almost sardonic 'smile' of death. It seemed as though she was pleading for help and death at the same time. Out of sheer empathy alone I could have helped her die with satisfaction. From that moment on, I was sure that doctor-assisted euthanasia and suicide are and always were ethical, no matter what anyone says or thinks."

The Korean War interrupted his career--he served honorably as an Army medical officer--but he completed residencies at Pontiac General Hospital, Detroit Receiving, and the University of Michigan Medical Center.

And when Vietnam came along, Dr. Kevorkian suggested research into battlefield transfusions from KIA casualties to wounded comrades. But he became very disillusioned when bureaucrats were more concerned with the "creepiness factor" than saving lives and denied his research proposal.

[Tribune7]

And when Vietnam came along, Dr. Kevorkian suggested research into battlefield transfusions from KIA casualties to wounded comrades. But he became very disillusioned when bureaucrats were more concerned with the "creepiness factor" than saving lives and denied his research proposal.

I doubt "creepiness" was any factor. Plasma shortage was not a big concern in Vietnam. it's more likely health officials were starting to see him as the nut he is.

[Reddy]

Exactly.

My heart goes out to those who watched their loved ones suffer. But Kevorkian was not about easing the pain of the terminally ill.

He is a sicko.

Kevorkian and his minions of death should not be released on the world just because an incompetent doctor did not aleviate someone's pain.

[CharacterCounts]

I never liked his methods or his need for press, but Kevorkian fought for what should be a basic human right. The right to die without needless suffering.

Living in Michigan, I followed the entire saga of Doctor death closely and came to two conclusions about him:

1. He was never interested in a persons right to die but was advocating a doctors right to kill.

2. He was a demented publicity hound. It got so bad that you could almost predict the next assisted suicide. As soon as the story of the previous assisted suicide was no longer front page news, the next one occured.

[Gondring]

You are correct in that there was no shortage of plasma for the later portion of the war (lots of spoilage in the blood program), but this proposal was early in the war...1964, IIRC. And it's interesting to note that a shortage of blood did occur shortly afte that.

[Fishtalk]

This is your defense?

Hey, there are some things that just are NOT in biographies.

Like his ghoulish pictures of death that were found in his residence.

And he's "participated" in some very questionable deaths. One woman he killed was NOT terminal, another was a certified crazy.

Why on earth does anyone go to great lengths to defend this guy? I've got links and stuff to some awful things about this man but I've also go a Blog.

I'll draw up a nice Blog post and post a link to it. Don't want to do this work twice.

Out there across the fruited plains are people who are dedicated to death with dignity, people who don't make big bucks and have a hard-on for dying people. The whole issue is very debatable and indeed, the debates should rage on.

But having Kevorkian in the mix throws everything off-kilter. This guy is simply not right.

[taxed2death]

"Where is the DIGNITY in Suicide??? It's the most cowardice act imaginable."

Just your opinion. I'll not get into details here but if you've ever had to witness a loved one die a very, very slow and agonizing death as I have...you might change your tune. When no amount of pain killers can sooth dying tissue you might think otherwise. When a persons physical body is actually rotting before your eyes and every day they pray that G_d will take them then maybe you would understand. I hope you pray to G_d every night you never have to witness this nightmare. May he hear your prayers.

[taxed2death]

"But neither is there dignity in having to hire someone to wipe your rear end for you, hold the jar while you pee, clean your soiled sheets...etc."
___________________________________________________________

I did that for my mom almost 3 years ago. She was so embarrassed and fought back tears all the time. My only reply to her was "mom...you wiped my bottom when you brought me into this world....so I'm just doing what you did for me, think nothing of it".. I remember being awake for 4 days straight during a blizzard when Hospice was unable to get the proper medication to her...even though a pharmacy was about a mile away.....all they could tell me was "it's on the way".
I remember also praying to G_d to please erase the memory of the agonizing sounds my mom was making as she lay there with no medication. Thankfully HE granted my prayers and there are still certain things...mainly sounds ...that have been blanked out of my memory...I suppose as a "safety mechanism" for me.

The horror I have to deal with every time I think back and second guess what I did at the time is something I would not wish on my worst enemy. I was "in charge" of administering her medication for pain relief. I gave her as much as I could without killing her.

I could have given her "more" than what was needed and put her out of her misery. I could not continue to live having known she had died by my hand, yet I have to live with the memory of her suffering and the words that she whispered to me "what went wrong".

Woe to those who pass judgment on others in this situation.

[CGTRWK]

Put it this way; Why do people need his help? Do you know how easy it is for someone to kill themselves if they wanted to? There must be 100`s of ways..For example I could go to my local hardware store and buy I all I needed for less than $20 bucks. Buy a hose and some duct tape, put the hose in the exhaust pipe of my car and the other end in the window, seal the windows and exhaust with duct tape, and walla, guaranteed 100% you will be dead in the most painless way imaginable. Why would anyone need Jack Kevorkian?

You can do all of those things yourself. Most of the people who would want a doctor's assistance dying are laying in bed moaning and crapping themselves. They can't even get a glass of water without assistance.

Even if they are physically up to ending it themselves, spraying hair and brains all over the walls doesn't make things any easier for their friends and family.

[Issaquahking]

I'm not a doctor, but watched, and did what I could for parents prior to their deaths. Father died of Emphazema, and Mother of Leukemia. Doctor gave us bottle of morphine to "use as neccesary" to relieve pain. To watch pain that isn't even numbed by such a powerful drug is just ugly.

My being Christian would not allow me to overdose them, but our family did everything we could till their deaths.

It's not mine to determine someone's time of death, but having seen other in horrid conditions, it should be up to the individual to make their choice, for their life. I would not fault others for their choice, especially when they know what the outcome will be eventually. Terminal deaths by horrific diseases, know no dignity. Jack just made it possible, he didn't actually pull the plug.

[Gondring]

This is your defense?

I am not "defending" anyone or anything. I'm simply correcting misinformation and libelous claims against Dr. Kevorkian. Frankly, I'm not a big fan of his, and I think he's done great damage to the public's perception of the issues involved with end-of-life issues...but I have to admit that there are many misperceptions out there that are understandable in context.

For example, this painting was posted...

Its title? War

What should one expect from such a topic...some idyllic scene? If so, I'd say that viewer would be the sick one!

And the other one...

This one was one of a series of illustrations of medical symptoms/conditions....in this case, Fever. Tell me, who has not seen magazine articles with metaphorical illustrations? Who thinks that a doctor should downplay the distress a patient feels? IOW, the doctor/painter created highly effective and appropriate art. If you can find me a place where he suggested these be displayed in a waiting room or a child's room, please let me know.

His main problem was his disdain for those lesser mortals (such as bureaucrats) who just didn't "get it"...leading him to put little stock in public perception--fail to realize how very important it is.

And he's "participated" in some very questionable deaths. One woman he killed was NOT terminal, another was a certified crazy.

And so you think that these people don't also have rights?

I would love it if everyone who had clinical depression could be cured of it or at least sufficiently treated. However, a dirty little secret of psychiatry/Scientiology, whichever way you go, is that about 1/5 of the time, we don't have treatment that works.

And if you are familiar with these issues, you should know that the horrific existence resulting from some mental illnesses are a common impetus to suicide. In fact, some sufferers resolt to physical pain to distract them from their mental/emotional symptoms.

To paraphrase Thomas Eleri: "To say you know what depression is like because you've been sad is like saying you know what it is to be blind because you've blinked."

I look forward to your blog posting.

[Valpal1]

The juxtapostion of your post:

I don't know anything about that. However, since I don't care for your hectoring tone, our conversation is over.

With your tagline:

("Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored." — Aldous Huxley)

is compelling irony.

[1L]

I'm glad at least one person on this thread understands the issue.

[merry10]

Actually, Kavorkian is also or WAS ALSO workign with Death Row inmates some years ago to get them to donate their organs upon death, thereby saving many lives.

[merry10]

Interesting comment. I agree with you. In fact, watching an FR rally in 2002 - there was a Second Amendment Sister who talked openly about being a pagan. I wonder if she is a Freeper.

[merry10]

I find some death interesting and have several books on the subject...Death's Acre and Stiff by Mary Roach. I also read a lot about serial killers and corpses. There are even more gross ones in the true crime and photo section at your local Barnes and Noble which I am too squeamish to buy.

I am not in LE, and am not connected to the medical field.

it's within the realm of possibility that Kevorkian had those books and documents and photos because that is what his life's work is in pathology.

[ErnBatavia]

I'm glad at least one person on this thread understands the issue.

But it ain't you...a Pathologist IS generally a physician...and Kervorkian is an MD.