It’s hard to explain how this story makes me feel. My senior year of High School I interviewed Dr. Kevorkian for my senior research paper. I didn’t find him cold or anything of the sort, and back then I was firmly on the pro-assisted suicide side. I felt that these people were suffering, so why not help them do what they wanted to anyway. Over time, I have changed that view. Now I believe that people who are in intense pain should have as much help alleviating that pain as possible but I don’t think that a doctor assisting them in their deaths is ethical. Now don’t get me wrong, I still have good feelings about Dr. Jack. I don’t think that he’s done what he has out of violence or any sort of publicity. I believe he’s doing what he’s doing (or done) because he cares about people. I just don’t approve of his methods. Anyway, I’m glad he’s not in prison anymore. And he’s agreed to try and change the laws now instead of assisting in anymore suicides.
Here’s the story of his release from The Freep:
By JIM SCHAEFER
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
UPDATED AT 11:20 A.M.
COLDWATER – Dr. Death is a free man.
Jack Kevorkian walked out of state prison today for the first time in more than eight years, flanked by his attorneys, two family friends and “60 Minutes” correspondent Mike Wallace, who greeted Kevorkian with a hug.
“It’s wonderful,” said a smiling Kevorkian, who eschewed a business suit his attorneys had brought for him for a trademark blue cardigan. “It’s one of the high points of life.”
When asked how he felt, he told pool reporters, “good.”
Mayer Morganroth, one of Kevorkian long-time lawyers, said his client was grateful for supporters who wrote him over the years and said: “he just wants a little privacy for the next few days.”
Kevorkian, 79, got into a white conversion van, rented by Morganroth, and drove away from the Lakeland Correctinal Facility shortly after 10 a.m. They avoided a media horde gathered by the prison’s administrative building by taking another exit.
The assisted-suicide doctor, who claimed to have helped 130 people die during the 1990s, served about 8 ½ years of a 10-20 year sentence for second-degree murder.
Before resting today, Kevorkian will interview with “60 Minutes” for a segment scheduled to air Sunday night on CBS. Wallace, a correspondent for the news show, has stayed in contact with Kevorkian throughout his time in prison and has visited him.
Kevorkian also is expected to interview with Larry King for a show to air Monday on CNN. Morganroth has said Kevorkian will answer questions from other media at a news conference on Tuesday.