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Thejesus
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Username: Thejesus

Post Number: 394
Registered: 06-2006
Posted on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - 4:15 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

LANSING -- Assisted suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian will be paroled in June, state Corrections spokesman Leo Lalonde said Wednesday.

http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll /article?AID=/20061213/NEWS99/ 61213040
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6nois
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Username: 6nois

Post Number: 22
Registered: 11-2006
Posted on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - 4:29 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I don't really see this as news. Kevorkian, is dying and is a frail old man. On top of that, I never really thought he should have gone to prison.
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Thejesus
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Username: Thejesus

Post Number: 395
Registered: 06-2006
Posted on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - 4:51 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"I never really thought he should have gone to prison."

all the more reason you should see this as news
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Mtm
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Username: Mtm

Post Number: 161
Registered: 06-2006
Posted on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - 5:19 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I agree that he shouldn't have gone to prison and wish that MI hadn't outlawed assisted suicide. We're kinder to our ailing and injured animals than to their human counterparts. BUT, my biggest bright spot on this is the hope that he doesn't have to die in prison; that he can have some of the freedom he gave to suffering people.
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Jjaba
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Username: Jjaba

Post Number: 4600
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - 7:49 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Dr. Kevorkian weighs 113 lbs. with less than a year to live. He has served 8 yrs. for the 130 deaths he assisted and changed attitudes about ending life, now legal in Oregon and other places.
The 1998 case got him convicted of Murder 2.
He's 78 yrs. old with Hep. C and diabetes. He's locked down in Coldwater, Michigan.

We still see his lawyer Geoffrey Feiger all over the tv and courts.

jjaba.
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Wash_man
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Username: Wash_man

Post Number: 226
Registered: 05-2006
Posted on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - 7:50 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I don't think Michigan outlawed assisted suicide. That would imply that it was once legal. He knew he was breaking the law. I think the final suicide he will assist with will be his own. I think that is why he wants out of prison so badly. He is a sick man. My money is on Dr. Jack killing himself.
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Jjaba
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Username: Jjaba

Post Number: 4601
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - 7:51 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Will Dr. Jack drive home in his VW Microbus deathmobile or is it in a Museum somewhere?
If not, it should be. Anybody know?

jjaba.
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Dhugger
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Username: Dhugger

Post Number: 120
Registered: 03-2005
Posted on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - 9:09 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Does any one remember that Dr. Jack had an art show in Royal Oak a few years back. Wonder if he pursued his art career in prison.

After watching a loved one pass from Lou Gehrig's Disease ... if I had the same fate I would wish for a Dr. Jack exit for myself.
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Bearinabox
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Username: Bearinabox

Post Number: 90
Registered: 04-2006
Posted on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - 10:54 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

If he had less than a year to live as of last July, what good does it do to parole him next June?
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Wash_man
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Username: Wash_man

Post Number: 229
Registered: 05-2006
Posted on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - 11:02 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

That's when he is first legally eligible for parole. I think only the Governor could pardon him and let him out now.
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Jjaba
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Username: Jjaba

Post Number: 4604
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Thursday, December 14, 2006 - 12:20 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

That's right Wash Man. The Gov. has taken no action even though the man is frail and dying naturally. He gets out next June with credits for good behavior. That's if his body makes it that long. Like any reformer, vilified in life, and honored later.

jjaba.
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Mikeg
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Username: Mikeg

Post Number: 403
Registered: 12-2005
Posted on Thursday, December 14, 2006 - 12:34 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


quote:

Like any reformer, vilified in life, and honored later.




I have to respectfully disagree. If Dr. Jack had truly wanted to be a reformer, he would have assisted the terminally ill, not the chronically depressed. Instead, he took anyone who "volunteered" to be his next victim and used them to grandstand, just like his attorney.
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Jjaba
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Username: Jjaba

Post Number: 4606
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Thursday, December 14, 2006 - 12:48 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Mikeg, jjaba agrees with you. There was some of that. jjaba uses the term "reformer" as one who looks at the current arrangements and tries to make changes. Some changes can be done legally and sometimes civil disobedience is used. Dr. Kevorkian didn't seem to care about the illegality of his ways. He got people to think about current policies in his own way.

From his work, the debate about ethics of ending lives has mushroomed with bio-ethicists all over the medical schools and helping professions. jjaba says his legacy of work continues into reform.

Some might not like his tactics but his message has made it into the professions. Remember, he wasn't exactly invited into the mainstream by any means any more than ML King was invited into the admssions offices of the Univ of Michigan. And they named a Natl. Holiday for him.

jjaba.
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Kathinozarks
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Username: Kathinozarks

Post Number: 73
Registered: 11-2006
Posted on Thursday, December 14, 2006 - 12:50 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Mikeg, I have to respectfully disagree with your opinion on the Doctor.
Chronically depressed people may consider themselves terminal. They see no way out, only by ending their lives will they be free. I don't wish to argue how many people actually had terminal diseases, but the few I saw on television were so sad and pitiful and wanted to leave this earth and the prisons that were their bodies. I think we should all be able to choose what we think is best for ourselves. Too much government interference (for our own good, they say). Deciding how you want to end your life(if it comes to that) should be between you and your Higher Power.
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Jjaba
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Username: Jjaba

Post Number: 4607
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Thursday, December 14, 2006 - 1:07 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

A lot of Dr. Kevorkian's patients were Oregonians. They flew into Detroit to die and Dr. Kevorkian was there to help them. They decided, not him.

In the process of 130 deaths at his hands, states grappled with the assisted suicide question. Oregon made it legal and today, there are doctors in Oregon who arrange the protocols for their patients. Michigan failed to take Kevorkian's advice and put him in prison.

Other countries have protocols and there's the Hemlock Society for anybody to Google.

To jjaba, this is reform, discussion, and action on the topic.

For your info., Kathinozarks, Oregon is also the least churched state in USA so maybe the people there are more willing to confront the subject and deal with it without Supernatural considerations. Welcome to the Forum.

jjaba.
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Mikeg
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Username: Mikeg

Post Number: 404
Registered: 12-2005
Posted on Thursday, December 14, 2006 - 1:08 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Kathinozarks,
Do you really believe that the chronically depressed are of sound enough mind to make a life-ending decision like suicide? I certainly don't!
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Smogboy
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Username: Smogboy

Post Number: 4121
Registered: 11-2004
Posted on Thursday, December 14, 2006 - 2:28 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Mikeg, didn't Kevorkian also advocate getting the signatures of several medical professionals (not just his opinion or the patient's) in order for him to perform the life ending procedure? I always thought that Kevorkian, in so many ways was brilliant in his compassion for people who are suffering.

And jjaba, I don't think Fieger is the attorney representing Dr. Kevorkian any more. I think however Feiger came onto the scene was a bad choice for the good doctor. It became more of a media circus rather than a serious debate and discussion about the topic at hand.
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Jjaba
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Username: Jjaba

Post Number: 4611
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Thursday, December 14, 2006 - 2:17 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Smogboy, jjaba agress with you. There is a new lawyer now. The media is great at creating a circus rather than confront serious issues. Sex, death, violence, and scandal sells soap!

jjaba.
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Southofeight
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Username: Southofeight

Post Number: 23
Registered: 07-2005
Posted on Thursday, December 14, 2006 - 2:43 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Dr. Jack used to live in an apartment above Mr. B's in downtown Royal Oak. In the very early 90s, around 91, he was often spotted at the post office or walking around downtown before the publicity went through the roof. He stopped being so visible in public after that.
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Gannon
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Username: Gannon

Post Number: 7593
Registered: 12-2003
Posted on Thursday, December 14, 2006 - 3:12 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

During the whole controversy, Dr. Jack dashed in front of my car on Old Woodward in downtown Birmingham. If it weren't for my excellent VW brakes and perception/reaction speed, I would be a hero to some.

For years and years, I've reconsidered my reluctance to aid in HIS apparent attempted suicide. The thought DID cross my mind in the millisecond duration of the whole event. I chose to stop, because then I thought it would make me like him.


After watching my mother wither in excruciating pain with bone, lymph, and brain cancer a few years back...and then having to decide with my sister OVER THE PHONE FROM LOS ANGELES to fulfill her wishes to follow the DNR protocol she confirmed verbally the morning she coded...I'm not so sure Dr. Jack was in the wrong.


My mother was a staunch Catholic and strong anti-abortion advocate...if I remember correctly, she was very much against Dr. Jack and his 'work'.


She was stoic and strong right until the end...my sister and I still marvel at her ability to maintain throughout that ordeal...we found more than a few unused pain pills in her room after she died.

If I had one NOW, I'd take it for this weird pain in my chest...
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Mikeg
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Username: Mikeg

Post Number: 409
Registered: 12-2005
Posted on Thursday, December 14, 2006 - 6:38 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

For those with short memories:

Kevorkian put his suicide machines to work terminating the lives of scores of disabled people. Indeed, about 70 percent of the nearly 130 people who died in Kevorkian's rusty van or other venues were not terminally ill. Most were disabled and depressed. At least five had no discernible illnesses whatsoever upon autopsy...

Kevorkian suggested in "Prescription Medicide" that assisted suicide should include the option of organ harvesting. In 1998, he decided to act on this desire. Oakland County medical examiner L. J. Dragovic reported that the body of Joseph Tushkowski, who had quadriplegia, underwent "a bizarre mutilation" after his apparent homicide. According to the autopsy findings, after Tushkowski died by lethal injection, the mutilator crudely ripped out the dead man's kidneys. In a macabre scene the medical examiner called out of a "slaughterhouse," the perpetrator simply lifted up Tushkowski's sweater, did his dirty work, and tied off the blood vessels with twine.

The mutilator was Jack Kevorkian. He proudly admitted that he removed Tushkowski's organs at a news conference where he offered the organs for transplant, "First come, first served."

..."Jack Kevorkian is a quack, a ghoul, and a fiend." He is a quack because, though trained as a pathologist, he had no training or expertise in diagnosing or treating depression, nor had he treated a living patient after his residency and military service in the 1950s. He is a ghoul because he is obsessed with death. He is a fiend because of what he did to Joseph Tushkowski and because he was motivated in all he did by his dream of slicing open living people.


Read the entire article: Dr. Death Gets Out of Jail
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Kathinozarks
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Username: Kathinozarks

Post Number: 75
Registered: 11-2006
Posted on Thursday, December 14, 2006 - 11:10 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Thanks Jjaba. I didn't mean to put a religious spin on my opinion, merely suggested that such an incredible decision should be a personal one.
Mikeg; yes. I do not discount anyone's ability to decide for themselves what is best for themselves. It is none of my business.

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