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What Terri Schiavo's Death Means for Dr. Jack Kevorkian

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  • What Terri Schiavo's Death Means for Dr. Jack Kevorkian

    What Terri Schiavo's Death Means for Dr. Jack Kevorkian

    By Jenny Kiljian

    April 2, 2005


    Theresa Marie `Terri' Schiavo, 41, was in a persistent vegetative
    state for 15 years in a Florida hospice. Schiavo died on March 31;
    she lived 13 days after doctors disconnected her feeding tube.

    Her case has prompted an international confabulation among doctors,
    legal scholars, ethicists, religious leaders and politicians.

    One voice that has been largely absent from the debate has been
    Dr. Jack Kevorkian, both reviled and admired internationally for his
    commitment to providing euthanasia to people suffering from terminal
    illness.

    Kevorkian, 76, is serving a 10- to 25-year sentence for second-degree
    murder after being convicted of giving a fatal injection of drugs to a
    Lou Gehrig's disease patient in 1998.

    The former pathologist has promised in affidavits and requests for
    pardon or commutation that he will not assist in a suicide if he is
    released from prison.

    Kevorkian told ABC News he is "dismayed" by the Schiavo case. "What
    bothers me is the bit of hypocrisy in all of this," said Kevorkian.
    "When the president and the Congress get involved because life is
    sacred and must be preserved at all costs, they don't say anything
    about the men on death row, and their lives are just as precious."

    But Kevorkian does believe some good can come from the debate over
    people's end-of-life wishes. "One thing, it has raised the issue, and
    many more people would be willing to face it and discuss with families
    and society in general," he said.

    Although Kevorkian is not eligible for parole until 2007, his attorney
    Mayer Morganroth said that he would be approaching the courts in
    November for Kevorkian's early release. Although Gov. Jennifer
    Granholm has said she will not consider pardoning Kevorkian, sources
    close to the case say that Schiavo's death could have an impact on
    Granholm's decision.

    `There is of course a lot of media that are promoting his release, and
    calls are coming in by the score at the prison and all over the place
    that he should be released,' said Morganroth. `The public is becoming
    aware that he shouldn't be in prison. The case has raised their
    awareness again.'

    Kevorkian, prisoner No. 284797, lives in a 7-by-11-foot cell at the
    Thumb Correctional Facility in Michigan.

    While Terry Schiavo's case could help Kevorkian from a legal
    standpoint, Morganroth pointed out key differences between the two
    cases.

    `Dr. Kevorkian had approval both in writing and orally by the person,
    and by family members. If anyone objected, the procedure wasn't
    performed,' he said. `Dr. Kevorkian examined all the medical records
    and sent the person to a psychiatrist to make sure that the person
    wasn't suffering from depression. He also made sure that the person
    was in irremedial pain and suffering and was terminal. Then,
    Dr. Kevorkian would film the discussion with the person, and wouldn't
    perform the procedure for a period of weeks - giving the person the
    opportunity to change their mind.'

    Michael Schiavo contends his wife would not want to be kept alive
    artificially. But her parents, Mary and Bob Schindler, argue she had
    no such death wish and believe she could get better with
    rehabilitation.

    Terri Schiavo did not leave anything in writing about what she would
    want if she ever became incapacitated. Over the years, courts have
    sided with her husband in more than a dozen cases.

    `In the case of Terry Schiavo, it's far from what Dr. Kevorkian
    did. But that doesn't change the fact that if Terry Schiavo wanted her
    life to be terminated, that it should be done. That's what the courts
    decided.'

    Morganroth said Kevorkian turned down `3 out of 4' people who came to
    him, some of whom testified at his trial that they had come to him and
    been rejected.

    Kevorkian, whose health is deteriorating, has no relatives in the
    United States. He never married, and has no children.

    In February, he was briefly released from prison to undergo surgery
    for a double hernia. Besides the hernia, Kevorkian reportedly has
    hepatitis C, high blood pressure, arthritis, a heart murmur,
    circulatory problems and the beginning stages of cataracts in his
    eyes.

    Morganroth also mentioned plans to turn Kevorkian's story into a major
    motion picture, called `You Don't Know Jack.' After years of rejecting
    book and movie offers, Kevorkian has given the go-ahead for projects
    to begin, but he says he will not benefit financially from any project
    based on his life.

    Internationally acclaimed actor Ben Kingsley is being tapped to
    portray Kevorkian. `We haven't made an offer to him yet, but he's at
    the top of our list,' said producer Steve Jones, who has taken on the
    project with Oscar-winning director Barbara Kopple. `We think he'd be
    the perfect fit for the role.'

    The film is not about the euthanasia debate, but a character study of
    Kevorkian. `I don't intend to make a film that bolsters
    euthanasia. This is a story about an extraordinary life. No matter
    what you think of Kevorkian, he is a genius,' said Jones in a recent
    interview with the Free Press. `The film will look at the life of
    Dr. Kevorkian and all the incredible layers of his personality, and it
    will look at a man who's given up so much for what he believes.'

    Ironically, it was a videotape that got Kevorkian convicted in
    1998. For a time, thanks to his work, physician-assisted suicide had
    been widely accepted and legally tolerated. By his count, he helped in
    more than 130 suicides between 1990 and 1998. Courts would not convict
    him and, after a while, prosecutors stopped charging him. Then, in
    September, 1998, he performed the euthanasia of Thomas Youk, a
    middle-aged man suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease.

    When Michigan law enforcement authorities did not charge Kevorkian
    with killing Youk, he took a tape of the incident to CBS Television,
    which aired it in the news program `60 Minutes.' On the program,
    Kevorkian challenged prosecutors to act; three days later Kevorkian
    was charged with the offense.



    Jenny Kiljian is the editor of the Armenian Weekly.
    This article has been reprinted from the Armenian
    Weekly with permission.
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