Bill to Ban Assisted Suicides OKd by Michigan Legislature

The Michigan Senate on Thursday approved a temporary ban on assisted suicides for terminally ill patients after a state senator said Dr. Jack Kevorkian had made Michigan the nation’s “suicide haven.”

The legislation now goes to Gov. John Engler, who is expected to sign the bill.

“It’s not the best bill in the world, but it’s a whole lot better than what we have today that lets Jack Kevorkian run around like Jack the Ripper,” state Sen. Jack Welborn said.

The Senate approved the bill, 24 to 6. The legislation cleared the Michigan House on Nov. 24, a day after Kevorkian helped a sixth terminally ill patient kill herself.

The measure, which would take effect April 1, would make assisted suicide a felony punishable by up to four years in prison and a $2,000 fine. A citizens’ commission also will study the issue for 15 months.

The commission would include health care workers, the elderly and representatives from such groups as the Hemlock Society, which advocates passage of laws allowing doctor-assisted suicide.

The Legislature then would have six more months, until Jan. 1, 1995, to act on the commission’s recommendations before the felony provision expires.

Michigan currently has no law specifically banning assisted suicides, unlike 28 other states.

Kevorkian, 64, a retired Royal Oak pathologist, said the new law is unconstitutional. But he declined to say if he would challenge it in court or continue assisted suicides.

In July, a judge threw out murder charges against Kevorkian stemming from the October, 1991, deaths of two women. The case is now before the state Court of Appeals.

Judges previously have ruled that Kevorkian cannot be prosecuted because Michigan has no law against assisted suicide.