Suicide Device Injunction to Be Sought : Legal issue: The doctor who helped an Alzheimer’s patient kill herself has not been charged. He says he’d like to use the machine again.

Local prosecutors here said Thursday that they plan to seek a court injunction today against Dr. Jack Kevorkian to bar him from further use of his so-called suicide machine until the legal ramifications of his activities are sorted out.

Oakland County, Mich., prosecutor Richard Thompson is expected to request the preliminary injunction this morning in county Circuit Court, marking the first significant legal action to be taken against Kevorkian since he assisted in the suicide Monday of a Portland, Ore., woman who was believed to be suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. So far, the 62-year-old Kevorkian has not been charged with any crime, pending the outcome of an autopsy on 54-year-old Janet Adkins.

Medical examiners refused to release preliminary results of Adkins’ autopsy Thursday. Medical experts say a number of tests must be conducted when someone is suspected of having Alzheimer’s disease. The diagnosis is not definite until brain tissue is examined under a microscope.

It is still unclear, however, whether prosecutors here might consider criminal charges against Kevorkian if it can be proved that Adkins did not have the disease and was otherwise healthy.

Alzheimer’s support groups were shaken at the news of Kevorkian’s machine.

“We have a number of services available that would hopefully prevent this kind of decision from taking place,” said Michelle Manning, deputy director of the Alzheimer’s Assn.’s Detroit-area chapter. “We would hope that they explore other avenues.”

Meanwhile, the Michigan Health Services Bureau and other regulators have begun to investigate Kevorkian’s activities, and Kevorkian reportedly could face disciplinary action or loss of his medical license.

Prosecutors apparently believe that they must seek an injunction against Kevorkian because he has said publicly that he wants to try out his suicide machine again with other potential clients. Kevorkian says he has a list of people who have inquired about his services.

Kevorkian’s machine, along with his 1986 Volkswagen van, in which Adkins killed herself in a Michigan park, have been impounded by law enforcement authorities. But Kevorkian said he could easily make a new machine. His device is basically a series of intravenous lines that can release deadly levels of drugs to stop the heart after the person who wants to commit suicide pushes a button.

Kevorkian, a bachelor who lives alone in a small walk-up apartment in this Detroit suburb, is a retired pathologist who has apparently been obsessed for years by the idea of doctor-assisted suicide for severely ill patients.

His idea that Death Row prisoners should be allowed to commit suicide and have their organs donated helped ostracize him from the mainstream medical community. As a result, he has been unable for several years to find work in hospitals; apparently, the last hospital that he worked at was Pacific Hospital in Long Beach, Calif., in 1980 and 1981. He has reportedly worked on research into the ethics of dying for the past several years.