Kevorkian Will Not Assist In Any Suicides

After More Than 8 Years In Prison, Kevorkian Says Assisted Suicide "Should Be Legal"

(CBS)  Jack Kevorkian, who's now 79 years old, was released from prison this past Friday after more than eight years behind bars. He had been convicted of murder for ending the life of a terminally ill man, Tom Youk, even though Youk and his family had begged Kevorkian to do it.

Back in 1998, Kevorkian gave 60 Minutes a tape he had made of Youk’s final minutes, and we aired part of it on the broadcast.

Kevorkian wanted to force prosecutors to charge him because he believed that by winning in court he could make euthanasia legal — that is, death by doctor at the request of a terminally ill patient. But he didn’t get the verdict he had expected.

Well now, as a free man, will Kevorkian continue his crusade? To find out, Mike Wallace and a 60 Minutes team flew last Friday to the prison in Coldwater, Mich., for his release.

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He says he's looking forward to quiet nights without snoring cellmates. And as Kevorkian and Wallace drove out of the prison, the doctor never looked back.

Kevorkian admits he has waited a long time for his release, yet he says he doesn't feel like a freeman. Asked to explain, Kevorkian says, "This is a virtual tether. Parole is a virtual tether.

And he will be tethered to his parole for two years, with restrictions designed to prevent him from promoting or participating in assisted suicide.

"I can't talk in detail about the procedure or advocate a procedure, especially with individuals," he explains.

He says he cannot offer counsel to anybody or advise people how to commit suicide. And he cannot be present at a suicide or euthanasia.

"Without violating your parole, Jack, what do you do to continue your crusade for assisted suicide and euthanasia?" Wallace asks.

"Well," Kevorkian says, "I'm going to work with activist groups trying to get it legalized. And putting my voice in with theirs to legalize it whenever I can. Either through legislatures or through courts if possible."

"What would you do if a desperate person comes to you, Jack Kevorkian, and says, 'I need help,' someone terminally ill who comes to you in terrible pain, wants you to lead them out of their misery? What do you tell them?" Wallace asks.

"Well, it would be painful for me but I'd have to refuse ‘em. Because I gave my word that I won’t do it again," Kevorkian says.

It was one of the conditions he agreed to to get out of prison. What got him into prison was the tape of Tom Youk.

Youk led an active life; he restored and raced vintage cars. But at the age 50 he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease, a devastating, incurable illness that destroyed his muscles. He lost the use of his legs and then his arms. His family says he was in terrible pain, had trouble breathing and swallowing, and was choking on his own saliva. So they wrote Dr. Kevorkian, who lived nearby, and he videotaped his first meeting with Tom.

"Trying to talk to Tom, you learned how bad he was. He couldn’t also make intelligible words barely intelligible," Kevorkian told Wallace in 1998. "And you could see him breathing, gasping, leaning back every time he tried to talk. He couldn't utter more than a few syllables at a time because of the weak muscles. And he was terrified of choking. Terrified!"

In that interview nine years ago, Kevorkian told 60 Minutes he had helped more than 100 people die by having the patient pull the switch to start the lethal drugs flowing. And Tom Youk could have done that. But this time, Kevorkian suggested that he give Youk a lethal injection. He said that was more reliable and more humane and he wanted to push the public debate from doctor assisted suicide to euthanasia.

"This is better than assisted suicide. I explained that to him. It’s better control. And then, he did agree," Kevorkian said.

Asked by Wallace how he knows Tom Youk agreed, Kevorkian said, "I had him sign, saying that he chose direct injection. And he signed it."

[antoniof123]

OK.

[larry0091]

I don't think so. He won't admit it though. If anything, he's gotten even more sure about it in prison. Won't admit it though, not to us anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if one day in the future, if the circumstances lend themselves, he'll once again be compelled to . . . assist. Try and be more clever this time doctor. Don't help them get you again. I've always supported the good doctor and feel history, in time, will judge him kindly.

[clcousins-2009]

Dr. Kervorkain is fighting a lonely battle. One of your listeners compared him to a serial killer. How ludicrous. The victim of a serial killer has no choice about how or when he dies. Every one of Dr. Kervorkain's "patients" chose when and how to die. Some whould argue that we are interferring with "Gods Plan." Every time a surgeon removes an infected appendix we are interferring with "God's Plan." Why is it all right to interfere if we are helping someone live, and not OK if we are helping them end pain and suffering, with their consent. I would hope that one day we will evolve to the point where we allow individuals to make their own choice about personal matters like this.

[mennowoman]

There is a big difference between mercy and what "Dr. Death" did.

Kevorkian didn't screen his "patients" to determine if they were actually terminal, he just took their word for it. He didn't screen them for depression, either. He was so eager to get publicity for himself that he just killed anyone who came along.

Forensic doctors have reviewed the cases of 40 of the 130 people who died at Kevorkian's hands, and only a handful of them were terminal with no hope of treatment. One of them, a woman who had been newly diagnosed with MS, didn't even have debilitating symptoms. She went to Kevorkian at the urging of her husband, who admitted that he dreaded having to care for his wife in her declining years. She probably had at least 10 more decent years, according to doctors, before she could have been considered terminal.

Mercy would have been to ease the pain and the fears of those people, to help them live every day to the fullest and best. To manage their care so they could have quality time with their families.

My mother died from a lingering illness, and she was in quite a lot of pain. The fact that she was dying brought us together in love and emotional intimacy deeper than any we had ever experienced. If she had ended her life and cheated us out of those times, I, and my whole family, would be much poorer for it.

Mercy is to take care of the ill and injured. Barbarianism is to kill the ill and injured.

[mikealford3]

So many opinions, obviously many are different. Why can't we accept that each person should have the choice? mennowomen, I respect your opinion and desire to have your mother around, however have you thought at all about what those extra days cost her in terms of suffering?

I have a much different view than many, because I know what's going to kill me. I have brain cancer, thankfully it is stable and no signs of advancement for now. However, I am at peace with the fact I am going to eventually die. As a patient, I would rather die than have my mother and father watch me suffer and they understand that.

I also believe there is a heaven. I believe heaven is a wonderful place and I know that here on earth there is so much fighting & war & hate & other bad things, so what's so wrong with dieing?

[toolmangler-2009]

Posted by mikealford3 at 03:50 PM : Jun 03, 2007


HiYa' Mike, Same here, cirrhosis. fun 'n games huh? I am comfortable though and know where I am headed. Lookin' forward to it really, but not rushing it.

[snunuman]

I hope someday very very soon Judge Cooper is diagnosed with a dibilataing, terminal, painful illness...maybe then she'll appreciate the good doctor! We don't let our pets suffer, why should our loved ones have to?

[jaybee310]

I respect everyone's right to opinion, but I don't know that any one of us if faced with some horrible disease, forced to exist only with pain, misery, loss of the ability to function as we want to function... wouldn't pray for help for it to end quickly. Now, if you choose to lay in your bed in pain and just wait it out, good for you! But, some of us aren't that strong. It's NOT murder, it's SUICIDE. It's for you to take up with your God when you see him.

[osharulz]

hey doc,
what ever happened to "DO NO HARM"?

[feelfree1]

Attention fellow Americans:

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www.un.org/News/briefings/docs//2007/070530_Ocampo.doc.htm

[mennowoman]

vbnvbn, you didn't know my mother. She wanted to live, dispite the pain, because she loved and was loved by us and wanted to share every moment she had to live with us. To the minute she died, she wanted to live. She had a strong family, s new grandson, a husband she loved and children who were constantly there for her. In other words, she had everything that people who ask to die don't.

Loving support and palliative care is better than abandonment and murder.

Judging me because my mom wanted to live is just plain stupid, vbnvbn. You don't understand and probably never lost someone who loved life as profoundly as my mom did.

[feelfree1]

On this article:

Dr. Kevorkian is a very courageous man.

[debk1969-2009]

I'm a strong supporter of "Right to Die" debate. I'm a 37 year old mother of two living with HIV. Even with the latest treatents (medications) and taking an active role in my own health care and management-the thought of end stage AIDS and complications of HIV are horrifying. I don't want my children having to worry about my end of disease complications. Let alone having to worry about how to finance health care costs to maintain my "life". The emotional and financial burden of caring for me until I die a "natural death" to me is unthinkable...

[momma30]

I've been working with patients in their homes for 18+ years and have been asked a few times to assist their suicide attempts with "extra" medication. I never have and never will. One of those patients was terminal and was receiving hospice services. This patient improved within a few months and was no longer terminal. What if one of us had helped her with suicide?
I was quite disgusted when I saw Mr. Youk's videotaped assisted suicide years ago. How is that "dying" with dignity?

[mikealford3]

hey doc,
what ever happened to "DO NO HARM"?
Posted by osharulz at 07:38 PM : Jun 03, 2007

What's harmful about ending someone's suffering?

1. If your son was lying in the floor screaming because of a broken leg, would you leave him there to suffer or would you get help? IN SOME CASES, the only help for the suffering is death.

2. Should I have the right to take your life? NO, so what gives you the right to force me to live and suffer?

3. If a doctor is bound by a living will to remove a patient's feeding tube or respirator allowing the patient to die, is that really any different than assisted suicide?

Part of the problem with this issue is some many people wish to impose their will on others. Assisted suicide should be the choice of the patient.

[hrettberg]

My father died of ALS in 1992. Actually, I should say he died from increased amounts of morphine given by his doctors while hospitalized because he could no longer breathe on his own. He was unable to move, talk, swallow, eat, use the bathroom, etc. His body had just stopped working but his brain was exactly the same as it was 20 years earlier. He had no options but to live in this useless body and suffer daily with the pain, humiliation and degradation handed to him. It is still unclear if ALS is hereditary or not but if I, or one of my children, are diagnosed with ALS - I will track down Dr. Kevorkian and beg him to help me, or my children if they wish, die when we are ready and before we must go through such horrific pain and horrendous suffering as I saw my father go through. I do not, and can not, understand how we are legally able to decide when or if we want to get pregnant, if we want our children to be vaccinated against terminal diseases or not, if we want to change our looks through plastic surgery or not, or even decide if we want to change our gender or not - but we are unable to decide for ourselves if we want to continue our lives in unspeakable amounts of pain and suffering due to medically untreatable diseases.

[marianne1952-2009]

This man is a hero. I am appalled by the fact he was imprisoned.
I hope his fight for a euthanasia law comes to fruition before he leaves this world. I live in the USA but hold on to my Dutch passport just in case I need a service like Dr K so humanely provided. He ranks right up there with all the great heros of our time.

[hrettberg]

To "mennowoman": Having your mother in pain, but rejoicing that it brought your family together is one of the most shallow things I have ever heard. Could you, or did you, think about your mother? Why did you all wait so long to come together? The fact that your family was not close until your mother was in great pain leaves me feeling so sad for you all. Also, to comment on your other posting about screening for depression - give me a break! Almost everyone now a days is depressed. I know children that are diagnosed as depressed. Trust me in the fact that living with a terminal illness, including that of my fathers illness - ALS - is living with something much greater than depression! Start looking at how other people may feel and I think your mind will open up to a whole new world.

[marianne1952-2009]

This is to that judge that sentenced him ....
I hope someday she is diagnosed with a dibilitating, terminal, painful illness...maybe then she'll beg for Dr K to come and relieve her of her suffering! Shame on you judge, you made a terrible error in judgment. You should be disbarred!

[sharons11157]

I totally agree with Marianne1952. It was a shame for this Dr. to be behind bars for 8 years. What was the female judge thinking? Put the murders and rapists there instead.

[hrettberg]

Again, to "mannowoman": You said "To the minute she died, she wanted to live. She had a strong family, s new grandson, a husband she loved and children who were constantly there for her. In other words, she had everything that people who ask to die don't." My father always had a strong family who never needed his illness to bring us together! He had tons of friends, money and everything anyone could ever ask for! ALS happened to him and took away his ability to do what he enjoyed. It never took away his joy of life and the love he had for family and friends! He took the cards that he was given and decided to see what was to happen to him after his disease was terminated! He, and everyone for that matter, should be given the right to decide if and when they can move one and end the pain and suffering their body is experiencing! It is not a "good buy" but a need to be able to say "enough"!

[goldylocks4]

Five years ago I lost my mom to a brain tumor. I watched her gurgling on her own body fluids. I told a nurse that Dr. Kevorkian had the right idea no one should suffer like that. I know my mom didn't want to. The nurse told me then I wouldn't have got to spend that time with my mom. I told her that was selfish. No one should ever have to suffer like that. Dr. Kevorkian was only helping suffering people. We care more about our pets that our human loved ones.

[goldylocks4]

Five years ago I lost my mom to a brain tumor. I watched her gurgling on her own body fluids. I told a nurse that Dr. Kevorkian had the right idea no one should suffer like that. I know my mom didn't want to. The nurse told me then I wouldn't have got to spend that time with my mom. I told her that was selfish. No one should ever have to suffer like that. Dr. Kevorkian was only helping suffering people. We care more about our pets that our human loved ones.

[marianne1952-2009]

Monnowoman.....you sound like an extremely selfish woman!

I was always suspicious of Dr. Kevorkian's motivies until I heard him tonight. While I am still ambivalent about assisted suicide, I no longer feel this doctor did what he did for any reason other than believing in the right of the terminally afflicted to withdraw from this world.

[mikealford3]

goldylocks4,

I am surviving a brain tumor and I am sorry your mother was victimized by this desease. I wish you and your family had not had to witness her suffering.

I hear people everyday around the U.S. and the world talking about heaven and how wonderful it is and all this, yet when faced with going, we all fight like heck not to go. Why?

Dr. Kevorkian goes to prison for years for helping a person who requested it and O.J. Simpson DOES NOT go to prison for hurting and killing people who do not request it. We do live in an interesting society.

[dorothyblu2]

If you google "natural poisons,or plant poisons"on the web,you will find all around us,growing,even wild,very poisonous plants and seeds.You see them every day(even trees)and never know just how poisoneous they are.Drugs are not necessary.The natural world has some of the deadliest drugs;Nature invented them all first,they are still there.

[chaimschmeel]

Teenagers who die futiley as cannon fodder in Iraq are stupidly called "heros". But Dr. Kevorkian is put in prison for doing for a man what anyone would do for a dog. He is a true American hero and deserves the nation's highest medal.

[dorothyblu2]

We greatly respect Dr.Kevorkian,as one of the most ethical and compassionate medical people we have ever known.See the above comment,instead of asking Dr.Kevorkian to assist you.We do not want him to get in any further trouble.Oregon still has legal suicide.

[dorothyblu2]

It is not necessary to suffer forever;please see the post about "googling natural or plant poisons"on the web.

[mikealford3]

dorothy, "legal suicide", that's something that confuses me. If a person commits suicide and it is illegal, who will the state charge put on trial? If suicide is illegal, why do people having living wills that order the stoppage of life support?


Teenagers who die futiley as cannon fodder in Iraq are stupidly called "heros".
Posted by chaimschmeel at 10:28 PM : Jun 03, 2007

"Stupidly" What is stupid about calling an American who is defending whoever and dies in his duty, a hero? The men and women who are serving in our military are all heros. They put on a uniform and vow to defend our freedom with their life, what is not heroic about that.

I realize this war in Iraq is wrong, however that is the fault of our government. The brave men and women on the ground in Iraq are doing their jobs as they have been ordered to do and that is HEROIC.

[mikealford3]

dorothydenim

I'm not sure you fully understand the desire for an assisted suicide. I understand there are plants and chemicals in this world that will kill a human being.
The act of death is not the sole focus of the act of assisted suicide. It's about dieing peacefully and without pain and suffering. Not everyone is knowledgable about the various plants and natural chemicals. Suppose a person chooses a specific plant, they may not know or in many cases they are not physically able to utilize the plant to induce death. Without knowledge of the natural chemicals a person may cause more suffering and may not die. By being assisted, there is a knowledgable person who can administer the chemicals to make the process more peaceful and successful.

A person with severe ALS could not do the research or could certainly not collect and process the plant extracts to induce the death.

[shanev137]

Kevorkian should be given the Nobel Peace prize and elevated to sainthood for having to be in jail for 8 years. If any of you morons have any doubts about legalizing assisted suicide go watch a terminal cancer patient get eaten alive by cancer and plead with you on his death bed to put him out of his misery. I have never wished pain and suffering on anyone but for all these morons who don't want this to become legal, I sure hope someday you get a taste of it. Hell, we're more humane to dying dogs than we are to humans. How sick is that?

[anyad10]

I love the interview with Jack Kevorkian, he is a great doctor doing a great thing for mankind. What is wrong with all these people thinking it is okay to let someone suffer..........we don't let even animals suffer, and they don't have a say. Wake up people........don't be so selfish and self-centered.

[grammawhamma]

I'm a health care worker who cared for hospice patients. When a person is truely terminal and there is no chance of recovery "most" doctors will order enough pain medication to keep the patient fairly comfortable. Sometimes it's not enough to control pain and the dosage is gradually increased until effective. In some cases this ends up being a lethal dose. I respect the doctors that realize that there comes a point in time when we are no longer prolonging life but prolonging death.

[susanhelit]

You can starve yourself, you can hope your doctor is willing to give enough morphine that it might work, you can try to see if someone can smuggle you some drugs - but I don't see any reason why people should have to go through this - why not simply give them a shot (or a method to give themselves the shot) to end it easily, rather than having to starve over a few weeks, hope your doctor can descipher the code, or expect a family member to risk murder charges by stupid overzealous prosecutors.

Making assisted suicide legal also ensures some regulation, so it is used appropriately. Without it, some patients are no doubt helped along when they shouldn't be, and others are put through pointless torment by doctors afraid of too much pain meds leading to an accusation of murder or causing addiction.

[grammawhamma]

My husband always told me that if he was ever diagnosed with cancer that he would go in the woods and shoot himself. Well, the day did come when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given a only few months to live. He was 54 years old and wore his seatbelt for the first time in his life that day on the way home from the doctor's office. I knew then that he wasn't going to kill himself but wanted to live. He fought the battle for four months and four days. At the very end he was ready to die.

[grammawhamma]

george 2221...yes I know this. I was a hospice nurse. Read my post from 11:49 PM

[grammawhamma]

Oh and my husband didn't shoot himself. I'm sorry if I gave that impression. He died peacefully in my arms in our bed.

[vinepetal904]

' ... govs like to yank enormous percentages of budgets in the name of public good, then deny funding to poor folk while spending huge chunks to arm gaurds who 'never ever get in the way of good people' as they fill prisons with those with no money ... then refuse to let 'insane people' get the hell out off this earth ... '

' ... i never understood the u.s. in world war ii ... they spent all that time spanking nazis when it was the jews along that were forcing those poor people to do what they were doing ... those jews knew *** well they come from a place of infinite eternities their every wish come true, and knew they were going back home someday ... they only come to earths like this 'cause a good eternity in hell is just a day in paradise for them ... i swear, they'll con you too into mug'n 'em, and then they'll give you flowers and cures for death and spoil your whole vacation ... '

[PatienceMelissa]

************************************************

I just want to say kudos to you, Dr. Kevorkian, for the care and concern you have shown for those who really needed you.

You really should be given an award for the work you have done and, in my opinion, certainly did not deserve to go to prison for your efforts.

I believe you are a truly honest and decent man.

If the time ever comes when I am really, really
sick or in a vegetative state such that I am
suffering to such a degree that I can not bear it to live any more, I would hope there would be someone just like you to help put me to rest so that I would not have to endure it any longer and would not be a burden to my family and friends.

Hopefully, that time will never come.

God bless you for trying to help.

[utena-2009]

The Hippocratic Oath, particularly its indictment to 'do no harm', is outdated.

Any treatment with a side effect is harmful. The important thing is to balance the harm with the benefits received, from the patient's point of view.

And don't forget that the Oath forbids surgery and abortion as well. It's just that most people don't know it.

[susanhelit]

I hope, if Dr. Kevorkian ever comes to a point where he needs that final mercy, someone will help him. It's the final decision of your life, no one should interfere with it. He's done so much good for raising awareness of the lack of humanity towards those dying.

[tomtomasters]

You are such pathetic dying zombies, who have no fight left? Who do you live for? You, or for us?

I think Jack O'Lantern went to far, and should be still locked up. Maybe George Bush will hire him. George does a lot of assisted suicides, whether they want it or not. He could probably get away with it...saying he is helping Iraqis.

I will never give up...I will fight until my rotting flesh drops off and I am running like a skeleton around the track.

Pathetic cry babies....Oh...I want to die doctor, cry ku,,wa wa.... $hit!

[processor2]

CBS Headline:...Kevorkian Will Not Assist In Any Suicides


No killing at all...This will disappoint the loony-left.

...

After reading these posts, liberals are definitely pro-death

...

[pwrslm]

Actually, mercy is a Christian thing. With all the new tech we have, they can seriously keep the dead alive.

Its a moral line that is pretty fuzzy.

Letting people die because they should be dead doesnt belong in a debate, its the decent thing to do.

[rafterman1]

===No killing at all...This will disappoint the loony-left===

No, it's the right wing that has the culture of death - righties have never met a war they didn't love. Too bad they aren't as interested in fighting in them as they are in starting them.

[malomaboy06]

Who do people think they are to tell people that they do not have controll over their own life. If someone loses their will to live, no one has any right to deny them. All Kevorkian did was provide these people with a simple way to do it. He is not a murder, he is not insensitive. I woulf even argue that he is very sensitive. He is receptive to the needs of other people.

Think... If he didn't, most of those people would have found another way. What have those people (or anyone else) lost.

[mikealford3]

tomtomasters,
Good for you, I hope you get what you desire. I only wish you would give others the same consideration.

You call me pathetic because I'm tired of being sick. You call me pathetic because I'm tired of going to bed everynight and waking up every morning worried that my brain cancer may come back. You call me pathetic because I'm tired of having to reach into the corner of the room to retrieve my leg so I can walk. You call me pathetic because I'm tired of waking up in the morning and not remembering yesterday. You call me pathetic because I'm tired of seeing the roses in a garden and not being able to feel the softness or smell the fragrance. You call me pathetic because I am tired of waking up every morning with news that X number of children have been molested or murdered over night.

It appears you have never been faced with a truely dibilitating disease. It also appears you don't quite understand what it is to suffer.