Jack Kevorkian Recruited to Lecture Circuit After Prison

USA, 1 Jul 07, Jack Kevorkian released from prison.

The American lecture circuit will gain a new recruit today with the release from prison of Jack Kevorkian, the practitioner of euthanasia dubbed Doctor Death.

Kevorkian will walk from the gates of a prison in southern Michigan where he has served more than eight years of a 10 to 25-year sentence for assisting the death of a Michigan man. His lawyer, Mayer Morganroth, told the Guardian that he planned to spend his freedom painting, making music and speaking on the lecture circuit in support of euthanasia legislation.

Michigan's corrections department has threatened to recoup some of the money should he make large sums from lecturing, and under the terms of his parole he cannot give advice on suicide, is forbidden from being present at any suicide or euthanasia, and cannot give advice to anyone wanting to kill themselves. Asked whether Kevorkian intended to participate in euthanasia, Mr Morganroth replied: "Absolutely not".

Kevorkian became famous for helping terminally ill and suffering patients to kill themselves, his first such assisted suicide taking place in an old van. He claims to have been involved in the deaths of more than 130 patients through the 90s, using a machine he pioneered to administer drugs, and leaving bodies at hospital casualty departments or coroners' offices.

The Michigan authorities attempted to prosecute him on many occasions but did not have sufficient evidence to prove that he had been responsible for a death. But in 1998 he videotaped the death of a man terminally ill with motor neurone disease, whom he injected with fatal drugs. The film of Thomas Youk's death was shown on the documentary 60 Minutes, handing prosecutors the material they needed.

At his trial the following year Kevorkian, representing himself, compared himself to civil rights leaders; but the jury found him guilty of second-degree murder.

The writer Derek Humphry, whose wife ended her life in 1975 when suffering from cancer, welcomed Kevorkian's release. "His action was justified and merciful," he said. "This case made clear that the laws governing homicide need modifying."

But other pro-euthanasia organisations were more cautious in their responses, mindful of the fact that the focus on Kevorkian comes at a sensitive moment - a legislative committee in California is considering whether to put forward a bill bringing it in line with Oregon, the only state where euthanasia is legal.

In Oregon, someone diagnosed as having less than six months to live can approach a doctor and ask for help in dying. Tight controls exist, with several witnesses and stages, to try to ensure that the person is not being pressurised into premature action; and once those have been met lethal medication can be prescribed for the patient to take at a time and place of their choosing. Since Oregon introduced the procedure in 1997, 292 people have made use of it.

Kevorkian, 79, has already recorded a new interview with 60 Minutes, and will also appear next week on Larry King Live. In an interview with a Detroit television channel last week, he called for euthanasia to be made legal. "I'll work to have it legalised. But I won't break any laws doing it," he said.

by Ed Pilkington, Michigan, reported in The Guardian.