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  • Kevorkian to campaign for assisted suicide

    Kevorkian to campaign for assisted suicide

    If paroled from prison, which could be as soon as 2007, doctor would
    plan legal fight

    The Michigan Daily
    September 30, 2005

    LAPEER, Mich. (AP) -- If released from prison, Jack Kevorkian plans to
    use the legal system to campaign for changes to assisted-suicide laws,
    the former doctor said in an interview from prison.

    Kevorkian spoke with MSNBC's Rita Cosby during a televised interview
    that was scheduled to air on the network at 9 p.m. yesterday.

    In excerpts from the interview released to the media in advance of its
    airing, the 77-year-old said that if he is granted parole in 2007, his
    earliest possible release date, he plans to travel and visit family as
    well as resume his efforts to legalize assisted suicide.

    But Kevorkian emphasized that he would not help those who want to die by
    breaking the law again, or encourage other doctors to do so until it's
    legal.

    "I have said publicly and officially that I will not perform that act
    again when I get out," he said. "What I'll do is what I should have done
    earlier, is pursue this from a legal standpoint by campaigning to get
    the laws changed."

    When asked by Cosby if he regretted the actions that put him in prison,
    Kevorkian replied: "Well, I do a little."

    "It was disappointing because what I did turned out to be in vain, even
    though I know it could possibly end that way," Kevorkian said. "And my
    only regret was not having done it through the legal system, through
    legislation, possibly."

    Kevorkian, who is being held at the Thumb Correctional Facility in
    Lapeer, 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.

    Kevorkian has said he assisted in at least 130 deaths, and Gov. Jennifer
    Granholm has said she won't consider pardoning him.

    During the interview, Kevorkian also discussed the case of Terri
    Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman whose feeding tube was removed
    after her husband won a court order to do so.

    Kevorkian said that had the woman's situation come up 10 years ago, he
    would have considered taking her on as a patient because her husband was
    her legal next-of-kin and because medical officials had determined that
    nothing could be done to help her.

    Kevorkian has signed off on a book and a movie about his life, both of
    which are expected to be released sometime next year. Producers have
    mentioned Ben Kingsley as a possible choice to play Kevorkian.

    "He's a great actor," Kevorkian said. "And beside that, he carries the
    implication of Gandhi, which is OK with me also."


    PHOTO CAPTION: Jack Kevorkian is shown in this Feb. 9, l996, file photo.
    If released from prison, Kevorkian plans to use the legal system to
    campaign for changes to assisted-suicide laws, the former doctor said in
    an interview from prison. (AP PHOTO)

    http://www.michigandaily.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/09/30/433cd2fc4eeb3
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