Dr. Death To Be Released On Parole

Here in the lovely state of Michigan we claim to be the home of many things. We've got the car capital of the world, Motown, Kellogg's Cereal, 4 of the biggest lakes in the world, and, count em', not one, but two peninsulas. (I know, it's great...)

We are also home to some other things. Among them, Dr. Jack Kevorkian: Dr. Death himself. A man who has become, in the words of a CNA article, the icon of the culture of death. I bring this up because this coming Friday, Kevorkian will be released from prison after serving 8 of his 10-25 years.

Imprisoned in 1999 for killing a man on national television, the 79 year old doctor seems to know what he'll be doing on his early leave. He told WJBK TV in Michigan that he will not be assisting in suicides anymore but he plans to begin a speaking circuit to push for more states to follow the lead of Oregon and pass pro-death or "right to die" laws. These types of bills have been circulating through many of the states' legal processes in recent years. One FoxNews story stated:

Opponents defeated a measure in Vermont this year and are fighting similar efforts in California. Bills have failed in recent years in Hawaii, Wisconsin and Washington state, and ballot measures were defeated earlier by voters in Washington, California, Michigan and Maine.

Kevorkian hopes to change those trends: "It's got to be legalized," Kevorkian said in a phone interview from prison aired by a Detroit TV station on Monday. "I'll work to have it legalized. But I won't break any laws doing it."

Opponents of so-called "right-to-die" laws say that physicians shouldn't be looking to kill their patients but help them die with respect and dignity.

Opponents and supporters of physician-assisted death say more needs to be done to offer hospice care and pain treatment for those who are dying and suffering from debilitating pain.
"The solution here is not to kill people who are getting inadequate pain management, but to remove barriers to adequate pain management," said Burke Balch, director of the Powell Center for Medical Ethics at the National Right to Life Committee, which opposes assisted suicide.
"We need to come up with better solutions to human suffering and human need," Balch said.

For Dr. Death, those solutions are found in the prick of a needle or swallowing a little pill...