Kevorkian “dying” – again

I’ll admit I’ve been kind of surprised that Kevorkian hasn’t been out on the road doing speaking gigs. In fact, until the last week, the only one scheduled was at the University of Florida, which has been postponed due to the infamous “don’t taser me, bro” incident at an appearance by Senator John Kerry.

It could be that Kevorkian just isn’t someone who is a draw if he isn’t going out and amassing a body count. It could also be that at least some organizations have reviewed some of his speeches and writings and found that he’s pretty incoherent a lot of the time.

But just this week, the Criminal Justice Club of Wayne State University announced that Kevorkian would give a lecture on prison reform. The lead on the story at “Click on Detroit” gave me that old feeling of “deja vu all over again.”:

DETROIT — Jack Kevorkian, the former pathologist whose name is almost synonymous with physician-assisted suicide in the United States, is scheduled to make what could be one of his last public appearances in Detroit on Nov. 29.

Say what? Is he moving out of the country? I thought the terms of his parole prevented that.

Nope. According to the news story, it’s because Kevorkian doesn’t have long to live:

The WSU Criminal Justice Club, which is sponsoring the talk, said in a news release this might be a “rare educational opportunity that may never present itself again,” since Kevorkian is terminally ill with Hepatitis C.

Funny. When Kevorkian talked with Mike Wallace after his release, he referred to his Hepatitis C and other ailments as pretty much under control, describing his health as “fair.”

I emailed the contact listed on the website for the Criminal Justice Club, asking for a copy of their press release. I got a response and a copy of the release pretty quickly. It looks like the Club may have been duped:

Jack Kevorkian will be appearing as a guest speaker of the Criminal Justice Club on November 29, 2007 at 12:00 in Helen DeRoy Audiorium 049 (bottom level auditorium). This event is co-sponsored by the Criminal Justice Club, Student Council, and Department of Criminal Justice. As you may have heard, Dr. Kevorkian’s lawyer has stated that Kevorkian is terminally ill with Hepatitis C,
so this is a rare educational opportunity that may never present itself again.

Yep. I did hear that. I heard it in 2003. I heard it again in 2004. etc. etc.

Like the boy who cried “wolf,” Mayer Morganroth claimed – year after year – that Kevorkian had “less than a year to live” in his efforts to win an early release for his client. This was laid out and confirmed in an Associated Press story that appeared on December 14th of last year (link is no longer operational):

Some object to Kevorkian’s upcoming release from prison
12/14/2006, 5:34 p.m. ET
By KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN
The Associated Press

(excerpt)
Not Dead Yet, a national disability rights group based in Forest Park, Ill., also said it was disappointed that Kevorkian would be released in June.

“We won’t forget the struggling disabled people he preyed upon. And we won’t be silent,” the group said in a statement.

It added that it expected that the 78-year-old Kevorkian, after leaving prison, will show a “near-miraculous `recovery'” from his health problems, which include diabetes, hepatitis C, high blood pressure, hardening of the arteries in his brain and vertigo, according to his attorney.

“We were suspicious his health problems were greatly exaggerated when his lawyer filed appeals for four years in a row claiming Kevorkian was essentially on the brink of death,” the group said.

***

Granholm spokeswoman Liz Boyd said all requests to have sentences commuted for health reasons must first go to the Corrections Department and then to the parole board, which recommends to the governor whether the request should be honored.

Boyd said Morganroth already has made four such requests, in 2003, 2004, 2005 and earlier this year.”In each instance he indicated that Dr. Jack Kevorkian had less than a year to live,” she said.

“Miraculously,” as we predicted, Kevorkian seemed to be far from a frail and dying figure once he emerged from prison. He looked forward to talking to the media, writing books and doing lectures.

No one in the media questioned how someone who had been described as “dying” – for several years in a row – suddenly seemed to have transformed himself into an elderly man with serious but manageable health problems.

And the press probably won’t blink now that Morganroth and the Criminal Justice Club are back to describing Kevorkian as “terminally ill” now.

Morganroth has an advantage that the boy who cried “wolf” didn’t have. The villagers that dealt with the boy in the story had something resembling a long-term memory. There is little evidence of that in either the press or the public consciousness. –Stephen Drake