Dr Jack Kevorkian to be released today

Jeanie

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/sns-ap-kevorkians-release,0,6462194.story?coll=ny-leadnationalnews-headlines

Bu$chlager

Always been a fan, happy to hear this. I just assumed he'd die in prison one day. Hopefully he can successfully further his cause.

even flow?

Funny how he went to prison for assisting somebody who has Lou Gehrig's disease, of which my mother has. And on many occasions I have heard the plea that she just wants to die. A bit heartbreaking in a way but from a stand point of a healthy human being who has had to watch what happens with that disease, I can see why one would not want to live with it.

All the power to ya Kevorkian. For a person who has all their marbles and is in pain or can't move or is dying a slow death, you are a saviour!

callen

If someone wants to die..let them die....pretty simple really. Jack just helped them by making it much easier. Other thought...there are people that kill that have gotten lighter sentences than what Jack received...what gives???

Guess when I get old, I'll move to Oregon....or better yet maybe move there now.....

Jeanie

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN0726831020070601?src=060107_1054_DOUBLEFEATURE_

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070601/COL04/706010358/1001/NEWS

RolandTD20Kdrummer

Dr. Death now roams the streets...muuuuhaahaahaha!!!

oh well...It's about that time I guess.

RolandTD20Kdrummer

Dr. Death now roams the streets...muuuuhaahaahaha!!!

oh well...It's about time I guess.

RolandTD20Kdrummer

is it me, or am I seeing double?

dharma69

Jeanie wrote:

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/sns-ap-kevorkians-release,0,6462194.story?coll=ny-leadnationalnews-headlines

Great. Now his music career can continue and thrive. It's time for him to release a new album anyway...post-prison breeds great material.

The first one was amazing.

onelongsong

even flow? wrote:

Funny how he went to prison for assisting somebody who has Lou Gehrig's disease, of which my mother has. And on many occasions I have heard the plea that she just wants to die. A bit heartbreaking in a way but from a stand point of a healthy human being who has had to watch what happens with that disease, I can see why one would not want to live with it.

All the power to ya Kevorkian. For a person who has all their marbles and is in pain or can't move or is dying a slow death, you are a saviour!

my prayers go out to your mum. a healthy human can't imagine how someone with a life altering disease can effect them. they can't know the anguish of being trapped inside ones body. maybe if one could imagine their head; alive in a jar; and still thinking. is that really life? science says it is but the one experiencing it says no. those pleas can rip your heart out. good luck with everything man. you can always PM if you need to talk.

Jeanie

even flow? wrote:

Funny how he went to prison for assisting somebody who has Lou Gehrig's disease, of which my mother has. And on many occasions I have heard the plea that she just wants to die. A bit heartbreaking in a way but from a stand point of a healthy human being who has had to watch what happens with that disease, I can see why one would not want to live with it.

All the power to ya Kevorkian. For a person who has all their marbles and is in pain or can't move or is dying a slow death, you are a saviour!

Oh even! :( That's awful! I'm so sorry. My thoughts are with you and your Mum. They do nothing I realize, my thoughts, but I send them and love to you both. It's diseases like this one that show you just how truly alone you really are in this world and that no amount of love can save a person from that suffering. I think the very important thing that Dr Kavorkian and others like him give the chronically ill and debilitated is a choice. They give power back. Power to make the ultimate choice. And choices are so few and far between when you are being betrayed by your own body.

Jeanie

RolandTD20Kdrummer wrote:

is it me, or am I seeing double?

Step away from the Special K rollie!!

Or better yet, send it to me!

Jeanie

dharma69 wrote:

Great. Now his music career can continue and thrive. It's time for him to release a new album anyway...post-prison breeds great material.

The first one was amazing.

It was? I'm not familiar with his music.

Jeanie

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kevorkian/aboutk/art/index.html

Jeanie

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kevorkian/interviews/

Jeanie

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070601/NEWS06/70601012/1048/SPORTS&theme=KEVORKIAN052007

pearljamharmony

I love how the political pundits just drop labels on people. They named this old man who did terminally ill people a favor "Dr Death" like he was a comic book arch villain to rally support against him. It makes me sick. Dr Jack served 7 years in prison for what? FOR HELPING PEOPLE?!?!?!? What’s with that? Now he’s being released spend what little time he has left on this earth to die a slow agonizing death because he has HEP C. BTW do you know where he got the HEP C, by helping people in Vietnam by doing studies on blood transfusion aka HELPING PEOPLE. The man has done his duty as a doctor by helping people his entire life, and for that the government decides to punish him because they know better? REALLY, do you believe that it is the government’s choice when and how someone dies or that someone with a terminally ill disease should just live with it? For shame uptight Michigan legal system.

Heatherj43

I am very happy he is out! I wish the media that was so interested when he was helping people die, and that are interested now, were more vocal and interested while he rotted in jail the past 8 years.
I have seen people who should die and the marvels of medicine are keeping them alive in state a of mind and health that is inhumane.
Maybe it isn't Jack we need as much as making medicine stop forcing these people to live beyoned the time that they really are ready, and should, move on.
I also see this the same as pro-choice. I have a right to what I do to my own body. How is it any different that I have the choice to have an abortion, but not the choice to die in Jck's way. Its no different.
I have seen too many people who the marvels of medicine are keeping them alive in a state that is just cruel.
Recently I saw an old man brought into the ER who was like an infant. It was bad. I told my bf, who saw him too, that if I ever get like that put a pillow over my face and let me go.
You know, it isn't Jack who is wrong...modern medicine too often doesn't allow nature to run its natural course and allow people to die when they should. That is inhumane.
We need to really think about life, period. Death is part of life, and I feel doctors need to back off and let it happen.
They are the cruel ones too often, only cuz of all the marvels of medicine and their oath. But, I find they do harm, against that same oath, by forcing people to live past when they should be allowed to go on.
Its to bad Jack really lost what he was trying to do. And his old lawyer, Feiger can kiss my ass.
He was on TV yesterday talking all this crap like he really is behind Jack and cares. BS!!! He dropped him and quit helping him, after it was Jack who made Feiger have a great career now with lots of money.
I wish Jack well, and its too bad he didn't succeed in giving us the right to what we do to our own bodies, which i thought was mine, not the governments.

catefrances

it never fails to amuse me that we can't stand to see our pets suffer, and so will euthanise them, but we're more than happy to watch someone we love suffer until the bitter end.

RolandTD20Kdrummer

any bets on saying he drives his wife absolutely batshit in the first week at home by going around the house repeatedly unplugging absolutely everything from the walls?

hehe

hippiemom

catefrances wrote:

it never fails to amuse me that we can't stand to see our pets suffer, and so will euthanise them, but we're more than happy to watch someone we love suffer until the bitter end.

I know! We'd all look down on anyone who kept Fido alive and suffering for weeks or months past the time he had anything resembling a life, but no one bats an eye if we do the same to Grandma.

Dr. Jack fought the good fight and it's a shame for all of us that he lost :(

Jeanie

if all of us so far on this thread are in agreeance, (a minor miracle around here but I digress....;) ) then how come this situation continues to exist? After all that Dr Kevorkian and Dr Philip Nitschke and others have done and continue to do to aid people in their right to a peaceful, painless death, how come we still don't have world wide acceptance of a persons right to die?

Here in Australia, we've even had Dr Nitschke's book banned! How is that even possible, when one considers that books and propoganda by Muslim extremists are still allowed to be purchased?

I don't understand. And I think it's time that something was done. I recently saw a statistic that said 80% of Australians agree with a persons right to choose. If that is the case, why then were the Euthanasia laws in the Northern Territory overturned by the Federal Government? Why is Dr Nitschke subject to censorship?

How is it possible that Dr Kevorkian was allowed to rot for actually, compassionately helping people to die a painless death with dignity?

catefrances

hippiemom wrote:

I know! We'd all look down on anyone who kept Fido alive and suffering for weeks or months past the time he had anything resembling a life, but no one bats an eye if we do the same to Grandma.

Dr. Jack fought the good fight and it's a shame for all of us that he lost :(

not this grandma.
ive already told my kids if they do not pull the plug i will come back and haunt them. and none of them wants that.

hippiemom

catefrances wrote:

not this grandma.
ive already told my kids if they do not pull the plug i will come back and haunt them. and none of them wants that.

I've gone a step further. It's written into my power of attorney that no one may admit me to a hospital, so I'll never get plugged in to begin with. When I reach the point where I need a hospital to keep me alive, I'm done. I'm going to die at home with no bullshit.

chopitdown

hippiemom wrote:

. When I reach the point where I need a hospital to keep me alive, I'm done. I'm going to die at home with no bullshit.

this I agree with totally; but I also think it's a lot different than a physician killing someone, which I have a bigger problem with. I also have a problem with physicians prolonging the death process and not respecting a patients wishes of dying in peace.

JOEJOEJOE

I wonder if anyone not familiar with Dr. Jack thought you were announcing the release of a cd!

hippiemom

chopitdown wrote:

this I agree with totally; but I also think it's a lot different than a physician killing someone, which I have a bigger problem with. I also have a problem with physicians prolonging the death process and not respecting a patients wishes of dying in peace.

The thing is, a lot of people don't die in peace. A lot of people die in agony, and there's no way to bring them peace. Drugs are only effective to a point. My doctors were unable to give control my pain after surgery, so my confidence that they'll be able to control final-stage cancer pain is right around zero.

Also, there are certain things I refuse to do. I refuse to be a drooling imbecile, so if my cancer spreads to my brain I'm going to have to take matters into my own hands. As I know from my post-surgical attempts at pain control, I have a massive tolerance for narcotics. I doubt I could do myself in using drugs without a doctor's supervision. That leaves me only with less attractive options that will leave behind a huge mess for someone to clean up, and I don't think that's fair to my family, friends, or the local police.

I know that doctors swear an oath to do no harm, but I honestly don't see the harm in helping someone to die peacefully when they're about to die miserably if no one intervenes. If Dr. Jack or someone like him were allowed to legally operate in Ohio, I'd be talking to him right now.

angelica

chopitdown wrote:

hippiemom wrote:

When I reach the point where I need a hospital to keep me alive, I'm done. I'm going to die at home with no bullshit.

this I agree with totally; but I also think it's a lot different than a physician killing someone, which I have a bigger problem with. I also have a problem with physicians prolonging the death process and not respecting a patients wishes of dying in peace.

I agree totally, chopitdown.

chopitdown

hippiemom wrote:

The thing is, a lot of people don't die in peace. A lot of people die in agony, and there's no way to bring them peace. Drugs are only effective to a point. My doctors were unable to give control my pain after surgery, so my confidence that they'll be able to control final-stage cancer pain is right around zero.

Also, there are certain things I refuse to do. I refuse to be a drooling imbecile, so if my cancer spreads to my brain I'm going to have to take matters into my own hands. As I know from my post-surgical attempts at pain control, I have a massive tolerance for narcotics. I doubt I could do myself in using drugs without a doctor's supervision. That leaves me only with less attractive options that will leave behind a huge mess for someone to clean up, and I don't think that's fair to my family, friends, or the local police.

I know that doctors swear an oath to do no harm, but I honestly don't see the harm in helping someone to die peacefully when they're about to die miserably if no one intervenes. If Dr. Jack or someone like him were allowed to legally operate in Ohio, I'd be talking to him right now.

I know it is a very tough and agonizing situation; I've watched 2 loved ones suffer from (and ultimately succumb to) cancer. I know we've gone down this road before and I don't take it lightly and I know there's no easy answer (at least for me). So I choose to come down on the side of thinking physician assisted suicide shouldn't be allowed. And there are damn good reasons why people do choose and would choose to use P-A suicide. If there was a place i'd be willing to hedge it would be the END stages of a terminal disease...cancer, AIDS etc... I could never support it right after diagnosis and I could never support it being used on someone who was a "burden" to family members. If it was used to make the dying process tolerable that is one thing; if it's used to advance and hasten the death process (i.e... you've got a year to live but you just want to end it...that would be a lot harder for me to support) that's something totally different.

hippiemom

chopitdown wrote:

I know it is a very tough and agonizing situation; I've watched 2 loved ones suffer from (and ultimately succumb to) cancer. I know we've gone down this road before and I don't take it lightly and I know there's no easy answer (at least for me). So I choose to come down on the side of thinking physician assisted suicide shouldn't be allowed. And there are damn good reasons why people do choose and would choose to use P-A suicide. If there was a place i'd be willing to hedge it would be the END stages of a terminal disease...cancer, AIDS etc... I could never support it right after diagnosis and I could never support it being used on someone who was a "burden" to family members. If it was used to make the dying process tolerable that is one thing; if it's used to advance and hasten the death process (i.e... you've got a year to live but you just want to end it...that would be a lot harder for me to support) that's something totally different.

It's certainly not something I'd want anyone to rush into either. Right after diagnosis is not a good time. Your emotions are in a state of flux and you don't really know what you're dealing with yet. Most people are surprised at the level of discomfort they're willing to tolerate in order to have more time with their loved ones ... I know that I have been, and from talking to people at my cancer clinic I think that's the norm.

I'd also be opposed to doing anyone in based on a long-term prognosis, because I don't think doctors know what they're talking about half the time. I know a woman who was told she had two years to live and she was dead in a month. I know another that was given a matter of weeks and she's still here and functioning pretty well four years later. This is why I don't ask my doctor how long I have to live, because her answer wouldn't have any meaning for me.

But the fact remains that for many diseases, such as cancer, AIDS, Gehrig's disease, etc., there often does come a time when the pain and suffering is almost unbearable, both for the sick person and the loved ones who have to stand by helplessly. I know that in my case, the only difference this law would make would be to insure there isn't a botched suicide that only makes matters worse, because when that time comes for me, I am going to do my damnedest to get outta here one way or another ... I only hope I don't screw it up and make things even worse for my family. I think it would be a kindness to allow someone to help me without putting them at risk of criminal prosecution.

stuckinline

the state of oregon has a die with dignity act

http://www.deathwithdignity.org/whatwedo/