Michigan Brings Charges Against Suicide Doctor

The prosecutor in Wayne County, Mich., brought charges on Tuesday against retired pathologist Jack Kevorkian for violating a state law banning assisted suicide, while at the same time saying he believes the practice should be legal under certain conditions.

Nearly two weeks ago, Kevorkian helped Thomas Hyde, a 30-year-old man suffering from Lou Gehrig’s disease, kill himself in a van on an island park in the Detroit River. Then, as is his custom, Kevorkian held a press conference to explain what he had done.

He and his attorney said at the time that they were anxious to resolve the legality of his actions.

The state law banning assisted suicide took effect in February and is to expire by November of 1994 while the Legislature explores the issue. It was struck down in May by a Wayne County Circuit Court judge but reinstated while the Michigan Court of Appeals reviews it.

Wayne County Prosecuting Atty. John D. O’Hair said at a Detroit news conference that his office was told it could be as long as six months before there is a ruling.

In the meantime, O’Hair said: “No one person is above the law. There is no exception for Jack Kevorkian.”

Michigan, where Kevorkian has helped 17 chronically ill people end their lives since 1990, “cannot continue to keep this issue on the back burner or take incomplete and inconclusive measures,” O’Hair said. “If it takes a criminal trial of Dr. Kevorkian to bring this issue to a resolution, so be it.”

Kevorkian, 65, was arraigned Tuesday afternoon in 36th District Court in Detroit and released by Magistrate Robert Costello on his promise to appear at a preliminary exam on Aug. 27, or pay $100,000. A judge will decide at that time if the case should go to trial.

If convicted, Kevorkian could be sentenced up to four years in jail, though O’Hair indicated he would not seek jail time.

Previously, Kevorkian faced three homicide charges in suburban Oakland County, where he lives in an apartment above a store. All of the charges were dismissed.

Kevorkian, a longtime proponent of doctor-assisted suicide for the terminally ill, told a news conference Tuesday that he would continue to help “suffering patients.”

“This is not a matter of law, governors, legislators, politicians, ethicists, religionists, theologians, philosophers. It’s a medical matter,” Kevorkian said. “We need no laws, no regulations, no initiatives in any state.”

He urged the medical Establishment to push for an end to “all ill-advised laws” and regulate the practice like other medical procedures, such as heart transplants.

O’Hair, who represents the Michigan State Bar on a “Death and Dying Commission,” which advises the Legislature, said he is proposing a law that would allow licensed physicians to help the terminally ill end their lives if the prospective suicides are fully informed of the alternatives to death and if the procedure is “merciful and medically approved.” He said he will distribute the plan to commissioners before their next meeting Sept. 1.

Suicide is “not like the abortion issue, when someone is deciding the fate of someone else,” O’Hair said at a press conference announcing the charges against Kevorkian. “It’s an individual enslaved in his own body.

“For myself, I don’t have any problem if I was enslaved in the body, having led a full life, and I came down with Lou Gehrig’s or something like that, where I reached the point where I had to lay in bed, have people feed me . . . see whatever assets I had go out the window to medical providers rather than to my family, I wouldn’t have a moment’s hesitation on making that decision. Not a moment.”

Yet the way Kevorkian assisted the Hyde suicide is clear violation of the law, he said. “There should be a conviction.”

Assistant Prosecuting Atty. Timothy Kenny said in an interview that although Hyde was “in pretty dire circumstances,” his death by carbon monoxide poisoning would violate at least some of O’Hair’s proposed guidelines. Kevorkian’s medical licenses in Michigan and California have been revoked and “I’m not sure if the use of carbon monoxide . . . is medically prudent,” Kenny added.

On Aug. 4, in the back of Kevorkian’s van, parked at Belle Isle, the doctor provided Hyde with a face mask, tubing and a canister of carbon monoxide. Because of his degenerative illness, known technically as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Hyde could move only his left hand.

Kevorkian has said he placed the mask over Hyde’s head and Hyde used his one good hand to pull a string tied to a clamp, allowing the gas to flow.

After Hyde’s death, Kevorkian’s attorney notified the police.

The next day, Kevorkian detailed the events at a news conference. His statements there apparently will be the main evidence used against him.

The rest was up to O’Hair. He consulted first with the appellate court and then decided he had to prosecute.

“Obviously,” said Kenny, “it can’t continue to be a back-burner item. As the population continues to age, we’re not talking about an issue that’s going to evaporate.”

Dr. Kevorkian’s timetable

Dr. Jack Kevorkian continues to participate in suicides despite Michigan’s ban on assisted suicide and the suspension of his license to practice medicine.

June 4, 1990: Janet Adkins, 54, Portland, Ore. (Assisted suicide)

June 8, 1990: Temporarily barred from using machine to assist suicide (Court action)

Dec. 13, 1990: Murder charge dismissed (Court action)

Feb. 5, 1991: Permanent injunction against using machine to assist suicide (Court action)

Oct. 23, 1991: Sherry Miller, 43, Roseville, Mich. Majorie Wantz, 58, Sodus, Mich. (Assisted suicide)

Nov. 20, 1991: Michigan Board of Medicine suspends license. (Court action)

Feb. 28, 1992: Ordered to stand trial on murder charges of Miller and Wantz. (Court action)

May 15, 1992: Susan Williams, 52, Clawson, Mich. (Assisted suicide)

July 21, 1992: Murder charges of Miller and Wantz dismissed. (Court action)

Sept. 26, 1992: Lois F. Hawes, 52, Warren, Mich. (Assisted suicide)

Nov. 23, 1992: Catherine Andreyev, 45, Moon Township, Pa. (Assisted suicide)

Dec. 15, 1992: Marguerite Tate, 70, Auburn Hills, Mich. Marcella Lawrence, 67, Mt. Clemens, Mich. (Assisted suicide)

Dec. 15, 1992: Governor of Michigan signs into law a temporary ban on assisting in suicide (Court action)

Jan. 20, 1993: Jack Elmer Miller, 53, Huron Township, Mich. (Assisted suicide)

Feb. 4, 1993: Stanley Ball, 82, Leland, Mich. Mary Biernat, 73, Crown Point, Ind. (Assisted suicide)

Feb. 8, 1993: Elaine Goldbaum, 47, Southfield, Mich. (Assisted suicide)

Feb. 15, 1993: Hugh Gale, 70, Roseville, Mich. (Assisted suicide)

Feb. 25, 1993: Mich. Legislature approves bill banning assisted suicide immediately (Court action)

April 27, 1993: Calif. judge suspends Kevorkian’s medical license. (Court action)

May 16, 1993: Ron Mansur, 54, Detroit, Mich. (Assisted suicide)

May 20, 1993: Judge overturns law banning assisted suicide on technical grounds. (Court action)

Aug. 4, 1993: Thomas Hyde, 30, Detroit, Mich. (Assisted suicide)

Aug. 17, 1993: Prosecutors decide to charge Kevorkian in connection with Aug. 4 suicide. (Court action)