Kevorkian Said to Attend Suicide of Ohio Woman

Dr. Jack Kevorkian attended the suicide of an Ohio woman Thursday night, his lawyer said. It was his 31st such death, following by two days his attendance at the suicide of a Virginia woman with a brain tumor.

Geoffrey Fieger, Kevorkian’s attorney, identified the victim as Bette Lou Hamilton, 67. Her body was dropped off at Pontiac Osteopathic Hospital by Jeanne Bogen, Hamilton’s best friend, Thursday night, Fieger said.

Fieger, who went to the hospital afterward, said Hamilton had a progressive neurological wasting disease called syringomyelia.

“It’s a terrible, terrible disease that destroys the spinal cord,” Fieger said.

Hamilton had been consulting with Kevorkian for seven months, Fieger said.

Dr. Robert Aranosian, head of the hospital’s emergency room, said Fieger told him Hamilton had committed suicide. Fieger provided the hospital with Hamilton’s name, age, address and medical condition.

Symptoms of the rare disease include weakness and muscle atrophy, Aranosian said.