21st Kevorkian-Assisted Suicide Is Declared a Homicide

Jack Kevorkian was present Saturday at the carbon monoxide death of an ailing 72-year-old woman, the 21st death the advocate of assisted suicide has attended since 1990.

Authorities ruled the death of Margaret Garrish a homicide. She died at her home in Royal Oak, the Detroit suburb where Kevorkian used to live.

Kevorkian lawyer Michael Schwartz said in a statement that the doctor was present when Garrish “chose to end her suffering by mercifully ending her own life at her home.” It was the first death involving Kevorkian in more than a year.

Garrish’s husband of 50 years, William, and two of her three sons were also present, Schwartz said.

A Michigan law temporarily banning assisted suicides, passed to stop Kevorkian, may have expired Friday. Interpretations of the law’s expiration date differ.

Kevorkian, a retired pathologist, had been counseling Garrish for two years, Schwartz said. She had rheumatoid arthritis, colonic diverticulitis, osteoporosis and other ailments. Both legs had been amputated and she had lost one eye.

Oakland County medical examiner Ljubisa Dragovic said Garrish died of carbon monoxide poisoning. He said he ruled it a homicide because he thought another person would have had to introduce the poison to her.

Kevorkian supplied Garrish with the canister of carbon monoxide, tubing and other equipment, Schwartz said.

Royal Oak police said Saturday that they hadn’t questioned Kevorkian and expected their investigation to continue through Monday. Oakland County Prosecutor Richard Thompson said he wouldn’t comment until police finish investigating.

Schwartz said he didn’t know where Kevorkian was.

Michael Dennie, a neighbor of the Garrish family, said Garrish “was in a lot of pain. She finally did get help for her pain from her doctor. She couldn’t hold anything; she couldn’t take care of herself.”