Kevorkian admits assistance
SOUTHFIELD. Mich {API
— Dr Jack Kevorkian flatly
admitted he assisted a man in
a merciful suii ide" Wednes
day and blamed the medii al
profession and the govern
ment for making terminally ill people suffer
"I assisted Thomas Hyde in a merciful suicide
There's no doubt about that I state it emphatical
ly." Kevorkian told reporters outside of his
lawyer's Southfield offii e "1 will always do so
when a patient needs it, because I'm a physii ian
Hyde, to. of Novi, inhaled carbon monoxide on
Belle Isle, an island in the Detroit River, said
Kevorkian attorney Mi< haul Schwartz Hyde suf
fered from umyotrophii lateral si lerosis. a degen
erative nerve disorder also known as Lou Cehrig's
disease. S< bwartz said.
It was the second time Kevorkian has been pre
sent at a suicide since a new state law banning
assisted suicide took effoc t in February No < barges
have been brought in the Slav 1 f• death of a South
field man.
In the last two deaths involving Kevorkian
before Hyde's death on Wednesday, his lawyers
have said only that be was present, a ( hange from
descriptions of him assisting suicides in most pre
vious cases.
The new Michigan law, passed last year in
response to Kevorkian, imposes a penalty of up to
four years in prison and a S2.000 fine for violators
Wayne Countv Circuit Court judge Cynthia
Stevens overturned the law on tei finical grounds
May 20 But the state Court of Appeals bloi ked
Stevens' ruling in (line while it reviews the < use
Schwartz said Kevorkian did not violate the
assisted-suicide law in Hyde's death Wednesday
Kevorkian thrashed the medical profession for
not taking a stand on the issue
"They're polite ians first, businessmen sei ond,
and they ought to be ashamed of themselves to
have human beings like Thomas Hyde suffer
immensely, unable to move any muscle, cannot
speak, cannot swallow, have pain in addition to all
that, and they turn their heads Imh ause 'We've got
to discuss this a little more. " Kevorkian said
“The world knows there's a need for this The
talk is senseless, pointless, there's nothing new to
he said about this "
Police Inspector Gerald Stewart refused to dis
cuss the investigation of Hyde's death other than
to say Kevorkian was questioned and released
If we come up with the elements m« essarv to
proceed with charges, we will," Stewart said
Wayne Countv Prosecutor John O'Hair said that
in addition to considering whether the law vs as
broken in deciding whether to press charges, his
offt( e would consider the i hanc es of the state law
being overturned
Neighbors at Hyde's townhouse complex about
30 miles west of Detroit said he used a wheeli hair
and appeared depressed earlier this week He
apparently shared the apartment with Ins wife and
daughter, hut no one answered the door Wednes
dm
David Wasielewski. 2~. said he lived next door
for about a ve.ir hut had only a nodding acquain
tance with him He said he saw llvde returning to
Ins apartment Tuesday
"We made eve i imtat t and I waved to him.
Wasielewski said "But lie looked reallv
depressed He was staring into spai e I suallv. he
looks good 1 don’t believe this "
Kevorkian, a retired pathologist, helped an Ore
gon woman i ommit suicide in 1990 and siih e has
crusaded for doctor-assisted suicide for some ter
initially ill people
Paul Denenfeld. legal dtrei tor of the Michigan
chapter of the Arneric an C iv il Liberties I nion. said
prosec uting Kevorkian in Hyde's death would he
difficult The At 1.1 lias i hallenged the state law
on behalf of two terminal cancer patients, a phar
mncist and six doc tors
"Dr Kevorkian has the ability to exercise Ins
Fifth Amendment rights and refuse to make a
statement to polii e. " Denenfeld said "It would lie
up to authorities to prove Dr Kevorkian commit
ted a crime before he could lie charged
Denenfeld said simply watc lung a suicide
doesn't violate the law
Self-amputee recovering well
HARMARVIU.K, Pa. (AIM —
To a husky otitdoorsman brave
enough to saw through his
pinned leg with a knife, the
ordeal of r»s overy seems simple
Nothing i onipares to mv chal
lenge in the woods,” Donald
Wyman said Wednesday "It's all
downhill from now on.”
lust two weeks ago. Wyman
was i iittmg logs about 100 miles
northeast of Pittsburgh when an
oak tree suddenly unite free and
landed on Ins leg, breaking two
bones
Wyman fashioned a tourniquet
with a chainsaw cord, cut
through w hat was left of his leg
with a pocketktiife. crawled
through mud to (ns bulldozer,
drove to his stick-shift truck and.
using his good leg on the clutch
and gas. drove the trui k two
miles to a nearby farm for help
It took about un hour
After several days in the hos
pital. Wy man transferred to Har
marville Rehabilitation Center
near Pittsburgh. His routine
includes stair climbing and lift
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Like most amputees, Wyman
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"He had to hove a lot of deter
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Wyman’s story brings him let
ters each day from as far away as
Hawaii One admirer slopped
him halfway through his doily
trip in a wheelt hair down the
center's quarter-mile, extra wide
hallway
T |ust wanted to tell you that
it's (list a terrifii thing you did."
said Jennie Maszle, who was vis
iting a friend
VVvman will he fitted for an
artifu ial leg later this month
The steelworker s son and for
mer fullUtt k, whose lilt kllUflle is
"Hutch, said the choice he hit eti
111 the woods was simple He
could cut the leg or bleed to
death His co-workers had gone
home, making a rest no unlikely.
Dot tors at Punxsutawney Hos
pital could not reattach tint man
gled leg. which was retrieved bv
paramedics
He wants to lie on his bulldoz
er for the (> o.rn. shift as early as
he t an at Original Fuels, a t ool
company. Also ahead is more log
cutting for u new house, the foun
dation of which is already down.
"I'll take somebody with me
next tune," he said
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