He is 79 now.

He has served over 8 years of his 10 year sentence.

I have thought of him often and I am so glad he is getting out.

edie

As those of us who work with patients in critical care units know, physician assisted "suicide" has been going on for MANY years. It's not documented but it's done.

I think it's important for people to make their wishes known legally. It's also very interesting to take a stance when you're healthy because when you're actually in a life/death situation, your stance just might change. I have two examples:

1. My father was in septic shock and dying. He battled for a solid month in the ICU. The time came when all his systems were failing and I told me father that if he wanted to rest and be out of pain, I would see to it that he would comfortably go. The entire family was around the bedside and he said, "I want to fight." We were all shocked but I told him if that's what he wanted, he and I would fight together. He lived about another 10 days. I made him a DNR so he was spared CPR, etc. but he died on his terms.

2. I have a heart condition that has no cure. Working with the critically ill patients for so long made me declare that I would NEVER want to be placed on a ventilator to breathe for me. Well, the day came when my heart "acted up" at work. I was placed in a wheelchair and rushed to the ER. It was so hard to breathe and I remember thinking, "Soon they'll put a tube in to help me breathe and I'll feel better."

I offer these two examples as food for thought...

Thank you for this post. Your two examples are indeed food for thought.

I saw a segment on Headline news tonight of Kevorkian getting out and he looks good. He was really smiling. The newcast said he has agreed not to assist anyone else but his views have not changed.

The newscast also said he is Larry King's guest Monday June 4 2007.

I plan on watching it.

edie

Elisabeth: Those are very touching examples of just why people should be in control of their own health care.

My mother did not want to die in a cold sterile hospital. She did not want to be kept alive so that her cancer could fill her with more pain than she had already endured. Against our better (we thought) judgement, we took her home. She had a hospital bed in the living room where all the activity was. It was hard on us, but I personally felt so good about taking care of her needs instead of having a stranger do it. It gave me something to do for her. She did it her way and we will always respect her for taking charge of her life and her death.

My sister, on the other hand, fought her cancer with her last dying breath. She was off and on chemotherapy and other drugs and radiation for 3 years. It was a horrible existence. She had every side effect you could imagine from the drugs - and many you couldn't imagine. But she never gave up hope and she got our respect because of her courage and her willingness to fight with all her might.

Two very different ways to approach death. There are many more and I hope that when my time comes I will be able to have a say in how I go out. I don't want to be kept alive well beyond what is normal. I would be completely mortified to have that decision taken out of my hands or the hands of my family. They know how I feel about this.

But you are right, if I were faced with death unexpectedly, I might beg to be put on a ventilator.

edie: I appreciate your posting the day and time for Larry King's interview with Kevorkian.

I'm so glad he's getting out. I wonder if he knows how many people support him?

I really don't know exactly how I feel about this!

Your bible didn't tell you how you feel about this?

What Dr. K did is the same as many other medical professionals. He just had the guts to stand up and make it public. But make no mistake, he did what MANY others do.

He's a hero in my book.

As those of us who work with patients in critical care units know, physician assisted "suicide" has been going on for MANY years. It's not documented but it's done.

I think it's important for people to make their wishes known legally. It's also very interesting to take a stance when you're healthy because when you're actually in a life/death situation, your stance just might change. I have two examples:

1. My father was in septic shock and dying. He battled for a solid month in the ICU. The time came when all his systems were failing and I told me father that if he wanted to rest and be out of pain, I would see to it that he would comfortably go. The entire family was around the bedside and he said, "I want to fight." We were all shocked but I told him if that's what he wanted, he and I would fight together. He lived about another 10 days. I made him a DNR so he was spared CPR, etc. but he died on his terms.

2. I have a heart condition that has no cure. Working with the critically ill patients for so long made me declare that I would NEVER want to be placed on a ventilator to breathe for me. Well, the day came when my heart "acted up" at work. I was placed in a wheelchair and rushed to the ER. It was so hard to breathe and I remember thinking, "Soon they'll put a tube in to help me breathe and I'll feel better."

I offer these two examples as food for thought...

Well put! Death can be handled within the above constraints without ever taking a life. This topic and most of these responses sent chills up my spine. I think I will just keep praying for a world that is so hopeless that the killing of a family member can be deemed merciful or someone's right. Dr Kevorkian should have been given a life sentence with no parole for taking those lives. He is a murderer!

Did anyone watch him last night on Larry King? I did.

Someone asked about his health. Apparently he has Hepatitis C.

I do agree with assisted suicide as long as the patient is able to choose. Dr. K said he always did psych evals before conducting his procedures to ensure the patient was of sound mind. He also rejected people who he felt were not 100% sure. I definitely admire his courage.

Dr Kevorkian should have been given a life sentence with no parole for taking those lives. He is a murderer!

Dr K took no lives. He helped people end their lives with dignity. He was never the one who decided when they would die. They made that decision for themselves.

When my father was dying (pancreatic cancer) he begged me to bring him a gun. Can you imagine how hard that was for me?

Carlele, when my father died, he had a DNR, living will and specific instructions to his kids that we not allow him to be kept alive on machines. A highly recommended doctor did surgery on him (which I completely disagreed that he needed) and within 3 days after the surgery, dad had some kind of episode. This whiz-kid surgical doctor would not confirm a stroke. However he insisted, and the hospital followed his orders, that dad be kept alive with a ventilator, dialysis, feeding tube, and everything else he needed to keep him from being declared dead.

That night after they had him all hooked up, he haunted my dreams, telling me I needed to save him and help him pass on. My sister had those same very clear dreams and directions from dad. We were completely beside ourselves seeing him being treated just the way he had designated that he never wanted to be treated. The rest of the hospital staff was also bumfuzzled. They knew he had no chance of survival. They knew he should be allowed to die on his own and in fact, had advised us to get the family together because they said he wasn't expected to live out the week. But the surgical doctor continued to insist that the hospital follow the doctor's orders to keep him alive.

We cried and wrung our hands and spoke with every person on his case, and others, begging to know why this was happening to dad. We even consulted with the patient advocate in the hospital and called in other doctors to evaluate his case. All of them, except for the doctor who did the surgery agreed that his case was hopeless. The surgical doctor, however, said that my father walked into the hospital on his own and that as a doctor he was compelled to keep him alive by any means he deemed necessary.

I was in a room set aside for grieving families one day and a very frank and compassionate nurse said to me, privately, that she was the one person who was not afraid of this very powerful doctor. She said that she was near retirement and he could not touch her. She said that he would not allow a patient of his to die within a certain amount of time following his surgery. It would mess with his outstandingly high numbers of successful surgical outcomes.

They had to discharge my dad from the hospital after 4 days and sent him to a critical care nursing home. He was allowed to die there one month later. It was simply devastating. What we wouldn't have given for someone with a heart, like Dr. Kevorkian, to have been his doctor.

BJean, I think you should have sued that doctor. And the hospital. And everyone who stood in the way of your legal right to allow your father to die in peace.

You know what laurend, what he did was criminal as far as I'm concerned. We seriously thought about suing. We certainly had plenty of justification to sue him. I think some of the medical staff would have loved for us to do it. But in the end, it would not have helped my dad. It would have continued to bring us unfathomable pain. And I was not prepared to spend anymore time across the table from that quack. If I thought it would save another human from the same fate, it would have been worth it, but I had very little hope that would be the case. That doctor was a very powerful man not only in that hospital, but also in the other major hospital in Orlando. My dad was 83 and had gone through many medical procedures in his last 15 years. He was in constant pain from spinal arthritis. He had no business being put through another surgery. He told my dad that he "had to have the surgery because if he didn't, he would probably drop dead one day in Winn Dixie." No, pop didn't shop at Winn Dixie, but the doctor scared dad so bad, he agreed to it.

laurend, thanks for your support. I really do appreciate it. My dad was great. Wonderful sense of humor, very intelligent and all the little old ladies loved him for everything he did for them every day. I loved him because he was wonderful to me and loved me unconditionally.

laurend, thanks for your support. I really do appreciate it. My dad was great. Wonderful sense of humor, very intelligent and all the little old ladies loved him for everything he did for them every day. I loved him because he was wonderful to me and loved me unconditionally.

I'm sure it was a horrendous experience, watching your father go through that and watching him be disrespected like that.

To me, it's simple. Do people want their families to suffer endless pain, let them be hooked up to machines that breath for them, feed them, keep their hearts beating? Or do they want to give their family members a dignified death that is of their own choosing, on their own terms, without pain? What really gets me is that so many people that apparently believe in God and all his powers also think that it is horrible to remove someone from life support, that it's murder. Don't they understand that their God wanted them to die? God isn't the one keeping their loved one alive.

laurend I completely agree with you.

Btw, I hope you're feeling fine again.