Kevorkian: "I have no regrets"

Description: [of the article from CNN]

HBO will be airing a documentary on Jack Kevorkian on June 28th. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta interviews Kevorkian:

Dr. Jack Kevorkian is as opaque a person as I have ever met. But despite his crazed rants — often about the Ninth Amendment to the Constitution, complete with a defense of James Madison and trashing of Thomas Jefferson (that guy … he just took all the credit!) — Kevorkian still knows how to make a point.

Not surprisingly, he strongly advocates assisted suicide, or euthanasia, or what he calls "patholysis." Terms matter to Kevorkian, and this is the term he prefers when describing the "medical procedure" he performed on at least 130 people, by his own count. "Path means disease or suffering," he said to me. "And lysis, means destruction," I said. "Exactly," he answered. Patholysis, he repeated. The destruction of suffering.

Later:
"In times of desperation, people may make decisions they regret," I started up again. "This isn't about deciding whether you want frozen yogurt or ice cream. These decisions about patholysis are … forever."

He agreed with that point, but quickly pointed out that he obtained mental health exams on all of his patients before agreeing to proceed. He also thoroughly reviewed medical records — about what he was looking for exactly, he was less forthcoming. Fact is, he says he turned down "many" patients who had requested his services.

And, for what it is worth, he never charged. A family member had once sent repeated checks to him after Kevorkian assisted in his wife's suicide, and he kept sending the money back, he told me.

[There are other related stories in the Links section below.]

Links:

To read the full article click on one of these links, both of which go to the same destination. A short link is provided for the convenience of readers. Also, readers may search and browse past and future advisories on the web (see bottom.)

  • http://tinyurl.com/2w6an4n

  • http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/06/14/kevorkian.gupta/

    Also see:

  • Jerry Dincin: Respect choice of suicide for those who are suffering [The Des Moines Register]
    http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100612/OPINION01/6120309/1166/OPINION01/Guest-column-Respect-choice-of-suicide-for-those-who-are-suffering
    Jerry Dincin, president of Final Exit Network and a retired psychologist, writes:
    The National Institutes of Health recently issued a dispiriting report on the state of Alzheimer's research. Their experts concluded that little can be done either to prevent or slow the disease's progression.

    The afflicted - including 69,000 folks in Iowa - can expect a slow, painful descent into advanced dementia. The moderate memory loss which marks the onset in patients will, over the years, deteriorate into inability to recognize close family members, dress themselves, or remember significant experiences. Friends and family who are forced to witness their fall into oblivion suffer indescribably.

    The NIH's results make understandable the decision by some Alzheimer's patients to hasten their own death; to avoid endless, unnecessary pain and ever-declining reason; to be who they are at their chosen end and not some empty caricature. It is time for the world to recognize the right and the rationality for mentally competent adults in such circumstances to take their own lives.

    As a practicing psychologist for 30 years, I have frequently worked to prevent mentally ill patients from ending their lives. But such a decision by a capable person stricken with unrelenting and intractable illness is a logical means of sparing themselves and others extraordinary misery and suffering.

Source:

Gupta, Sanjay Dr. "Kevorkian: 'I have no regrets'". CNN. June 14, 2010 11:32 a.m. EDT. <www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/06/14/kevorkian.gupta/>. CNN, One CNN Center, Atlanta, GA 30303, U.S.A.

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  • Dr. Jack Kevorkian

  • U.S.A.

ID:

The EuthaNEWSia ID for this advisory is: enid201006145044.
Mailed: Monday, June 14, 2010 14:15:26 -0600
at Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Etcetera:

EuthaNEWSia is a free Canadian news advisory service covering end-of-life issues such as right to die, assisted suicide, and euthanasia. EuthaNEWSia is produced by the Right to Die Society of Canada which works toward a good death for all, including open, regulated and equitable access to euthanasia and assisted suicide. The editor is Michael Dawson <editor@euthanewsia.ca>. 

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