Jack Kevorkian dies, but physician-assisted suicide lives on

Jack Kevorkian addresses an audience at Wayne State University in Detroit on November 29, 2007.

/ AP

(CBS/AP) Jack Kevorkian has died, but the cause he long championed - physician-assisted suicide - lives on.

The ghoulish-but-folksy physician died Friday not by his own hand but at a hospital in Royal Oak, Mich., where he was being treated for pneumonia and kidney problems. He was 83.

Kevorkian, nicknamed "Dr. Death," became an outspoken and often controversial proponent of patients' right to take their own lives, gaining international notoriety in a 1998 60 Minutes interview, which showcased one of the suicides in which he participated.

"Somebody has to do something for suffering humanity," Kevorkian explained. "I put myself in my patients' place. This is something I would want."

PICTURES - 8 signs someone is at risk for suicide

Among the patients whose suicide was Kevorkian facilitated was Janet Adkins, a 54-year-old Portland, Ore. woman who died in 1990 after Kevorkin hooked her up to a "suicide machine" he had built using parts scavenged from flea markets. Altogether, Kevorkian helped end the lives of 130 people with ailments ranging from multiple sclerosis and cancer to Lou Gehrig's disease.

One of Kevorkian's dreams was to establish "obitoriums," places where people could go to end their lives. He didn't live to see that happen, but physician-assisted suicide is edging closer to the medical mainstream.

Washington, Oregon, and Montana now allow physician-assisted suicide. In addition, several professional organizations now endorse an approach to end-of-life care known as "aid-in dying," according to Barbara Coombs Lee, president of Compassion & Choices, a nonprofit advocacy group. The American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine and the American Medical Women's Association released position statements in favor of the practice. The basic idea of aid-in-dying, Lee told CBS News, was for doctors to give patients a choice while in palliative care or hospice - that if they suffer despite trying other end-of-life therapies, they could end their lives.

But not everyone agrees with Lee, that doctors should be serving up life-ending medication for their suicide-minded patients.

Stephen Drake, a research analyst for a disability advocacy group called Not Dead Yet, said physician-assisted suicide often ends up taking the lives not of terminally ill patients, but of people who had better options.

"Suicide-prevention people have written off the old, ill, and disabled," he told CBS News.

What do you think? Should patients be able to end their lives with the help of a doctor? Or was Jack Kevorkian dead wrong?

[RobertFinneyPhD]

Ezekiel Emanuel, Obama's ethics engineer, needs to police disruptive doctors, who duck discipline due to nonexistent peer review. He is a Dr. Strangelove physician who "bends the cost curve," but breaks the patients and the doctor-patient relationship.

Original, documented investigation, Birth of a Real Life Death Panel, is posted on www.hmohardball.com

Robert Finney PhD

[carolloving]

Police disruptive doctors when we live under medical tyranny?

[Bojax39]

"The ghoulish-but-folksy physician died Friday not by his own hand but at a hospital in Royal Oak"

The employed-but-moronic hack Ryan Jaslow wrote the above line thinking such quips urbane and humorous. Where DOES CBS find these ignorant people?

[sndrake]

I'm quoted in this article. There's a fuller context to my statement about suicide prevention organizations abandoning old, ill and disabled people. These groups have promoted campaigns to put barriers on the Golden Gate Bridge to deter jumpers. They issued a press release when Sen. Grassley suggested AIG execs commit hari kari. They issued a press release expressing concern that the movie "Seven Pounds" romanticized suicide.

Yet when countless stories about the suicide vigilante group "Final Exit Network" (they do it with helium-filled bags) were published across the net, there was silence from these same groups. See - almost every one of those articles also carried contact information for the organization - so that any suicidal person could email or call them. That's important - because the Final Exit Network doesn't care if a person's terminally ill or not either. Silence from suicide prevention organizations = abandonment of the target populations of the Final Exit Network and Kevorkian.

[HarryBlonde]

I really do not think it is the government's business or anybody else's business how I choose to live, or how and when I choose to die. If it comes down to a choice between dying in agony with no hope of recovery, I would choose to end things when my suffering and my family's suffering became unbearable. I respect those who would not make the same choice for themselves, but I do wish most of them would respect my choices as well...

[carolloving]

When the government is in control of your death, you arre living under medical tyranny !

[HarryBlonde]

I really do not think it is the government's business or anybody else's business how I choose to live, or how and when I choose to die. If it comes down to a choice between dying in agony with no hope of recovery, I would choose to end things when my suffering and my family's suffering became unbearable. I respect those who would not make the same choice for themselves, but I do wish most of them would respect my choices as well...

[freedomfighter1945]

My mother, dying of cancer on her death bed, begged me to pray that she would die soon. Her screams could be heard all over the hospital. Pain medication only helps a little, it doesn't take the pain away. The people Dr Kevorkian helped, begged for his help. Instead of fearing the government exterminating those considered unproductive, and denying the suffering the option to die without agony, why don't we change the government? We shouldn't have to fear what our government will do next.

[Eberwein1]

I agree with all those that wish to end their life if they have an incurable illness and are both in pain and not able to do for theirselves.

[jghopper]

My father was a man who thought deeply and clearly about things. He was the most ethical man I have ever known, and the best Christian I have ever known - a giving, caring human being with a natural sense of right and wrong. He lived Christianity like no other person I know. He was the closest to a saint I've seen on this earth. When my father was dying, he said, very seriously, "Dr. Kevorkian did people a favor." He made it clear he wanted to die with dignity. Dad was fortunate in that his stay in the hospital before he died was short. For myself, I personally believe that assisted suicide should be an option and a right for myself should that day come, and for everyone who wants it. People who speak out so harshly against Jack Kevorkian have never suffered prolonged anguish and pain, or seen their loved ones in that situation. They should shut their pie holes until they've walked in those shoes. (And if they have, and still insist the assisted suicide option is wrong, I pity their "loved ones." That kind of "love" I could do without.)

[queenofromania]

I'm with you. Your father lived a long and noble life on his terms. He wanted to continue his consistent beliefs by ending his life on his terms. I should be so lucky as to have that option. Thank you Dr. Kavorkian for opening our eyes to your loving kindness.

[Sekken85]

I agree with dcreno. My father-in-law lived the last 3 months of his life in pain. He had a brain tumor and skin cancer. Nothing the doctors offered eased his pain. Even morphine. He was constantly moaning and at times cried from the pain. I for one would not want to live out my last few days in agony. I believe those that wish to keep such people in pain alive are the selfish just to satisfy their own needs. Let the ones in pain and suffering go on. It's not our choice or society's choice. The person in pain and the ones suffering with no chance of recovery should be allowed to make their own decisions when possible.

[cascadecin]

We certainly are not free if we don't have the right to decide when to end our life. That is basic. I don't think doctors should have to be put in the position of being part of it however. For that matter (as an Oregonian) I don't think they need to be involved in a citizen's right to grow and smoke marijuana. There are young boys and brides in Pakistan who don't want to die, why not protest U.S. killing peaceful citizens of a country we are not at war with (unless we cause it).

[freedomfighter1945]

Well said.