Jack Kevorkian Dying in Prison

[Nomad559]

http://www.axcessnews.com/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=10156

The man known to the world as Dr. Death, Jack Kevorkian, is suffering in prison from a number of maladies and his condition is of great concern, according to his lawyer.

Kevorkian's legal counsel notified John Rubitschun, Chairman of the Michigan Board of Parole, and Governor Jennifer Granholm that Dr. Jack Kevorkian's health is rapidly deteriorating.

"Today, Dr. Kevorkian weighs a mere 113 pounds," attorney Mayer Morganroth said.

"He is suffering from active Hepatitis C, which is attacking his major organs and cannot be treated in prison. His liver enzymes are dangerously high, and his blood sugar is four times normal. On top of all that, it's been determined that he has become diabetic. Frankly, he's in terrible shape," he said.

Morganroth claims Dr. Kevorkian's personal physician told him a month ago that he does not believe Dr. Kevorkian will live for more than a year in prison.


I recorded this video of Andy Rooney & Jack Kevorkian from 60 minutes several years ago.

Andy Rooney & Jack Kevorkian on 60 Minutes


.

[undeterred]

1. He's a strange guy, but he raised an important issue.

[napi21]

2. I guess he cant get anyone to help him die either.

Yes, he is a strange guy, but the people who asked him for help were in the sahp he is now, and he granted their request. Too bad noone is able to do it for him.

[acmavm]

3. He brought a valid and very important issue into the national

consciousness, but he also helped people who were not terminally ill die. And he knew they weren't terminal. So, for what he did, he is in jail and dying himself.

If he would have followed his mission of helping the dying that would be one thing. He just wanted bodies to sacrifice for his cause.

Does he deserve to die in jail? I don't know. Did he deserve to be jailed. You bet he did.

[Warpy]

4. We're all terminal, and some people can be in a condition

that will keep them utterly miserable for years.

ALS is one of those conditions. Steven Hawking keeps going because he has theoretical physics. A man who has nothing but a dead end job would feel quite differently about having a sharp mind in a body that no longer functions at all.

MS is another condition. People with MS may have lost all dignity and most function, but they can be maintained for many years in sheer misery.

I would prefer to see such cases evaluated for depression, first. If the person is still requesting assisted suicide when depression has been reversed, I see no reason to deny the request. I don't think Kevorkian was quite this careful, though.

I know most people who request the means have derived a great deal of peace of mind from having them available, but have not used them. People who do are a minority.

I will always be grateful to him for bringing this issue to our attention, those of us who aren't in medicine and confronting it already. I just wish the country as a whole were more enlightened about it.

[adriennui]

5. don't expect this country to be enlightened by anything

humane abortion?nah. stem cell research? nope. death with dignity? hell no. proper palliative medicine for patients in pain? duh, no....they may become addicted.


this is bushworld...up is down, yes is no, black is white, fuckin stupid is plain spoken.

[WiseButAngrySara]

13. Very thought provoking post, and I agree Warpy! Thanks. ....n/t

[Pastiche423]

6. Why does he deserve to be jailed?

He did not search out the people he helped to die. They sought him out. Even then, he din't help all of the people who sought him out.

One of those people he denied, is a cyber friend of mine. She, a high quad, wrote to him of her hopelessness. She would never get better. She would forever be "a box on the table". Her words, not mine.

He denied her. This was many years ago and she still feels the same way to this day.

All life is not sacred, precious or any other adjective you may want to use. Sometimes life is worse than death.

Granted he is/was an odd bird, but he raised the consciousness of a subject that should not be taboo.

Living a life of pain, is not living.

[acmejack]

8. Why?

Why are you so righteously certain that he deserves to be incarcerated? He murdered no one.
edit took me fifty minutes to type this question, got a bit distracted.

[W_HAMILTON]

7. How do they handle health issues in prison?

I always wondered about this. I just assumed that people would be given the medical care they need, but this article says that his Hepatitis C cannot be treated in prison. Why not?

Do those in prison receive no medical care if they have life threatening illnesses (such as cancer)?

[laylah]

11. Hep C will not be treated in prisons

because the testing is very expensive (at least $750 just for the blood work, then $2400 for the biopsy) and the predominant strain (Genome 1) costs no less than $24K for the year of therapy. Therefore, since prisoners are not people, the state refuses to treat them.

Personally, I feel we should all start a letter campaign to the governor. Kervorkian (sp?) only provided a service he was ASKED to provide. Who the HELL is the "guvmnt" to tell me, or you, or anyone, how they might die. Personally, I think they don't like it because it takes $$$ out of the coffers of Medicare and privately run homes. Just saying...

Jenn

[partylessinOhio]

9. Jack Kevorkian stood alone just as Senator Kerry stood alone this week.

He should never have been put in prison. The terminal ill persons he helped to die, wanted to die. Other doctors could have supported Kevorkian but they did not just as the Senators could have stood with Kerry and they did not.

If I wanted to end my suffering I would want a doctor like Kevorkian to assist me.

I'm sorry that he was incarcerated and that he is dying in prison.

It is ironic that people would punish Kevorkian for helping to end lives of person who are suffering while they support Bush's war that is killing healthy people who want to live.

[RagingInMiami]

10. One day in the future

They will say Dr. Kevorkian was ahead of his time. May he pass away painlessly. And may he rest in peace.

[WiseButAngrySara]

12. This is so sad! The man who wanted to aid 'death with dignity' is now

incapable of the personal choice he believed in and is now imprisoned for. What a bitter twist of irony here!

He likely contracted Hep C because of his lifetime profession as a pathologist. He's handled a lot of 'unfixed' organs, and has come into contact with ample blood products long before the time that 'universal' precautions with gloving and protection from blood products, was recommended. Hep C used to be called non-A non-B Hepatitis, or post-transfusion jaundice, and was considered completely benign until they identified the virus and did back studies on recipients of blood units infected with Hep C. It was then discovered that Hep C is worse in most respects than the dreaded Hep B.

[Nomad559]

16. He likely contracted Hep C

http://mediwire.skyscape.com/main/Default.aspx?P=Content&ArticleID=301716

"I'm alarmed because it now appears that the hepatitis C Dr. Kevorkian contracted while testing blood transfusions given to American soldiers during Vietnam is attacking his liver. I'm fearful ... because if his liver fails, it leaves only two avenues: a liver transplant or death."

[WiseButAngrySara]

18. God, even worse irony! A war hero who fought for dignity with death

is currently dying in prison without any dignity at all, and the likely etiology of his Hep C is from transfusion testing for American soldiers in the Viet Nam War! What can we do here? Too sad!

The liver failure explains his weight loss and 'diabetes', likely secondary to liver failure.

[WiseButAngrySara]

14. Kick for Dr. K's Death with Dignity! ....n/t

[XOKCowboy]

15. Thank you Doc!

I have nothing but respect for Dr. Kevorkian. At the time he was be persecuted my grandmother lay in a vegetative state from Alzheimers. The strongest woman you've ever met reduced to an invalid mentally as her body wasted away.

Thanks Doc. Death With Dignity is a noble cause and you gave your life for it. My best wishes.

[Ezra the Prankster]

17. And I suppose he was sentenced by a jury of his "peers"?

How can anyone adequately pass judgement on someone who doesn't have any peers? If his guilt or innocence should be decided by anyone, it should be decided by terminally ill people.

Terminally ill people are forced to make a choice that no one else is: Do they protect their survival by preserving their biological survival, or do they protect their survival by ending their physical pain. Healthy people are able to do both of those at the same time, but terminally ill people are forced to choose one or the other. Despite what it might seem to heathy people, Dr. Kevorkian wasn't helping people to die, he was helping them to live on their own terms.

[Bozita]

19. His "peers" should include 12 MDs who deal in end of life care

Perhaps a few oncologists and gerontoligists.