Kevorkian Assists in Suicides of Two Elderly Cancer Victims

Retired pathologist Jack Kevorkian helped two sick, elderly people kill themselves Thursday, making them the 10th and 11th patients that the self-styled suicide doctor has helped to die.

Kevorkian’s lawyer said that a flurry of people have been seeking his help in dying before a temporary state ban on assisted suicide takes effect March 30. Kevorkian, whose medical license has been revoked by Michigan officials, has said that he intends to ignore the law because he believes it is immoral.

The two latest suicides occurred in Leland, a community of 1,642 people on Lake Michigan north of Traverse City, said Kevorkian’s lawyer, Geoffrey Fieger.

Fieger identified the dead as 82-year-old Stanley Ball, in whose home the deaths occurred, and 73-year-old Mary Biernat of Crown Point, Ind.

Ball, who was blind, suffered from pancreatic cancer and had jaundice as a result. Biernat had breast cancer that had spread into her chest, Fieger said.

“Both of the patients were in extreme pain and needless to say were near death,” Fieger told reporters at his Southfield office.

Fieger said that Kevorkian had been counseling the two for about a month. Kevorkian had been unwilling to travel to Indiana for Biernat’s death because he was unsure what Indiana authorities would do, the lawyer said. Indiana has no law against assisted suicide.

Ball allowed the use of his home for both suicides. Biernat was driven there by her children.