AMA Wins a Victory--for the Press : Court Lets It Protect Identity of Doctor Who Told of Mercy Killing

The American Medical Assn. won a major victory today--not for physicians but for journalists--by protecting the identity of a doctor who claimed he carried out a mercy killing.

Chief Cook County Criminal Court Judge Richard J. Fitzgerald ruled that prosecutors had not exhausted all their possibilities to determine whether the mercy killing, outlined in a controversial essay published in the Chicago-based AMA journal, even took place.

“There certainly is a grave question here whether a crime was committed in the County of Cook or whether in fact any crime was committed at all,” Fitzgerald said.

The judge then quashed a subpoena issued by the state’s attorney’s office to the AMA in an attempt to get the organization to reveal the doctor’s identity.

Grand Jury’s Order

A Cook County grand jury in February ordered the AMA to turn over all records concerning the essay “It’s Over, Debbie,” including the author’s cover letter, the original manuscript and any memos discussing the article, which was published Jan. 8.

AMA general counsel Kirk Johnson then filed papers arguing the AMA did not have to comply with the subpoena because the state’s attorney violated provisions of the Illinois Reporters Privilege Act.

The Illinois law provides that someone seeking privileged information must apply in writing to the Circuit Court to set aside the protection and must prove in a hearing that there is no other available source for the information and that the disclosure of the information is clearly in the public interest.

Fitzgerald agreed that prosecutors had failed to fulfill the requirements of the act.

‘Get This Over With’

“I would suggest that the state investigate this case properly and then, if warranted, issue a new subpoena,” Fitzgerald said.

In the essay, an unidentified gynecology resident described being called in the middle of the night to tend to a 20-year-old woman dying of ovarian cancer. The woman was in intense pain, had not eaten or slept in two days, weighed 80 pounds and had been vomiting relentlessly. “Let’s get this over with,” the doctor quoted her as saying.

The doctor then described injecting the woman with 20 milligrams of morphine and watching as she fell asleep, her breathing slowed, and she died.

“It’s over, Debbie,” the article ends.

The article created controversy in and out of the medical community. The issue became public in late January when New York City Mayor Edward I. Koch wrote Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III urging a criminal investigation.