Kevorkian Helps Woman in ‘Medicide,’ His 12th

A multiple sclerosis patient committed what she called “medicide” with retired pathologist Jack Kevorkian’s help Monday. It was his 12th assisted suicide and the third in five days.

Kevorkian’s lawyer denied that the advocate of doctor-assisted suicide is stepping up his pace before a state ban on the practice takes effect March 30.

Elaine Goldbaum, 47, who was legally blind and needed a wheelchair to get around, killed herself in her suburban Detroit apartment by putting on a gas mask and pulling a clip that released carbon monoxide from a tube, said the lawyer, Geoffrey Fieger.

“She was asleep within one minute,” Fieger said.

Her suicide was the sixth Kevorkian has attended since the Legislature passed a law temporarily banning assisted suicide, effective March 30. Gov. John Engler signed the bill hours after Kevorkian helped two women kill themselves in December.

Fieger has said a flurry of people have been seeking Kevorkian’s help in dying before the ban takes effect. But he said at a news conference Monday: “I’ve talked to Jack, and he’s not going to rush things.” Kevorkian was not at the news conference.

Kevorkian first assisted in a suicide in June, 1990. He was charged with murder in the first three deaths, but charges were dropped because the state had no law banning assisted suicide.

Michigan authorities have revoked Kevorkian’s medical license.

Goldbaum was divorced and was being cared for by her 17-year-old daughter, Leslie, Fieger said. She died at the townhouse they shared. The daughter and Goldbaum’s sister were there.

In a Dec. 28 letter to Kevorkian, Goldbaum said she wanted to die because her disease was getting progressively worse.

“The loss of dignity is atrocious. . . . I cannot do anything for myself,” Goldbaum wrote.