Yesterday on Fox News…

Kevorkian, media coverage, Our News & Commentary Blog

Yesterday (April 1), Brit Hume’s “Special Report” featured a story on Kevorkian’s plan to run for Congress in Michigan’s 9th District. I was interviewed for the story as a representative of Not Dead Yet.

I received an anonymous tip that a copy of the story is now online:

I will try to transcribe the video by sometime on Friday to make the content accessible for those people who prefer or need print as their information source. (Update: transcription is done!)

In the meantime, Foxnews.com has a print article with much of the content that is in the video piece – not surprising since the author of the article is also the reporter in the video piece:

Amid Skepticism, Jack “Dr. Death” Death Kevorkian Runs for Congress:

By Jeff Goldblatt

Assisted-suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian Tuesday received the paperwork he’ll need to fill out in order to run for Congress as an Independent in Michigan’s ninth district.

Nicknamed Dr. Death, Kevorkian, who served eight years in prison for second-degree murder, will now see if he can gain the 3,000 signatures he needs by mid-July to get on the ballot.

Before Kevorkian was released early from his 10 to 25 year prison sentence in 2007 for his role in the assisted suicide of a 52-year-old man with Lou Gehrig’s Disease, Kevorkian’s attorneys told Michigan’s Parole Board that their client was in poor health and months away from death.

Fast-forward to today, and a resurrected Kevorkian says if elected he’ll crusade for individual rights.

“Without rights, life isn’t worth living,” Kevorkian told FOX News Tuesday in a rare sit-down interview. “I want to fight for our rights. Prison reform, educational reform. I want to do all that, plus satisfy the desires of my constituents.”

Kevorkian, a retired pathologist who claims to have helped at least 130 people die from 1990 until 1998, jumped into the race last Monday.

He calls the government tyrannical and said if elected he’ll call attention to the Ninth Amendment, which says “The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”

Kevorkian said this is what gives us our natural rights. “It says that you have every right in the world, because you were born with them … as long as nobody gets hurt or is threatened,” said Kevorkian. He interprets this as a protection of the right to die through assisted suicide.

“They never talk about it in school,” he said. “I became aware of it when I was almost 70 years old. And then I read it. Then I realized what it meant: It’s the most powerful amendment in the Bill of Rights.”

But some say Kevorkian’s election bid is nothing more than a publicity stunt.

“Kevorkian has never fought for anyone’s rights but his own,” said Stephen Drake, research assistant of Not Dead Yet, a disability rights organization opposed to legalizing assisted suicide and euthanasia. “He wants to be the center of attention. This is what this is about,” said Drake.

Kevorkian said that on reputation alone he’ll collect the signatures he needs to be placed on the ballot as an Independent.

His opponents, former Michigan Lottery Commissioner Gary Peters (D), the Democrat, and eight-term GOP incumbent, Joe Knollenberg, say they want to focus
on the economy and not Kevorkian.

But Oakland University political science professor Dave Dulio says Kevorkian could be a factor in this race, which the national Democratic Party has targeted in the wake of Knollenberg’s narrow victory two years ago against a relative unknown.

“He has name identification, yes, but you can’t get elected on name ID alone,” said Dulio. Dulio predicts Kevorkian won’t win, partly because he won’t take campaign contributions. “You need to tell people why they need to vote for you, rather than the other candidates, and that’s what he can’t do with no money.”

But Kevorkian stresses it’s the message that counts, not the money. He said that he won’t hire a campaign staff and intends to meet voters the old-fashioned way: face to face. “I’m more honest than they are,” he said, speaking of his opponents. “Nobody in any party or any religion really has a free mind.”

I’ll leave it to others to notice what points I made that are mentioned in the introduction – and that it’s left to a political science professor to assert that Kevorkian might have an impact on the election, although he doesn’t say in which direction.

Needless to say, the quote included in the article and the video segment isn’t the one I would have chosen out of the several points I made when interviewed.

But that isn’t a complaint, really. The fact is, if you’re interviewed for a story, it’s the reporter’s decision as to what fits into the story that he or she is putting together. Sometimes their choices of what’s important will be the same as ours, and other times they won’t.

And certainly, I am in no position to complain – I wasn’t filmed or quoted in a way that made me look stupid or scary. And the reporter thought that I – and Not Dead Yet – should be included in this story. –Stephen Drake

Karen McCarron Sentenced to 36 Years for Murder of Katie

crime and punishment, homicide, McCarron, Our News & Commentary Blog

The waiting is over.

Just a couple of hours ago, from the Peoria Journal-Star:

PEKIN – Karen McCarron was sentenced to 36 years in prison today for suffocating her autistic daughter in 2006 and a request for a new trial was denied.

McCarron will have to serve 100 percent of the sentence and would be 75-years-old upon her release. She also was ordered to pay a $25,000 fine and was given 30 months of supervised release. She had faced between 20 years and 110 years in prison.

McCarron’s attorney, Marc Wolfe, said any decision to appeal will come from McCarron and said no decision has been made yet.

McCarron, 39, was found guilty on Jan. 17 of two counts of first-degree murder, one count of obstructing justice and one count of concealment of a homicidal death after a jury deliberated for nine hours during the course of two days.

McCarron suffocated her daughter Katherine “Katie” McCarron with a garbage bag and told authorities she found the girl not breathing in bed.

McCarron took the stand during her nine-day trial and demonstrated for jurors how she suffocated her daughter by placing a garbage bag around the arm of Kevin Johnson, chief assistant Tazewell County state’s attorney.

She also said she attempted to suffocate the child with a pillow three days before she killed her with the plastic bag.

For most of us, this brings a probable end to a horrible chapter in media bias, so-called “advocacy” groups, and the tragedy of promising lives snuffed out early and violently.

For the McCarron family, of course, this nightmare never really ends.

From all of us here, our loving thoughts and wishes go out to Mike McCarron, Paul McCarron and the other people in Katie’s life who loved her and treasured her for he brief span on this planet. –Stephen Drake

“Brain dead” man “comes alive” – a miracle, naturally

life-ending decisions, media issues, Our News & Commentary Blog, reality check

Last week, Dateline featured a story on Zack Dunlap. Dunlap, 21, had a bad accident on a 4-wheeler, causing severe head trauma. At the hospital, they declared him “brain dead” – and it really does appear that they did some thorough testing to determine this. Here are excerpts from the transcript on MSNBC:

(Note: Doug and Pam Dunlap are Zack’s father and mother)

Dr. Mercer: His brain injuries were absolutely catastrophic.

Dr. Leo Mercer, Director of Trauma Services at United Regional, said Zack’s condition deteriorated as the hours wore on. With the young Oklahoman unresponsive to any sensory stimulation, the doctor wondered if they’d already
lost him. He apprised Pam and Doug of his findings.

Dr. Mercer: I told them that I was going to order a confirmatory test, a brain flow study.
(At the scanner)

We actually scan it twice…

A blood flow scan would determine if there was any blood still coursing through Zack’s brain. The results couldn’t have been worse.

Pam Dunlap: The doctor took us in and showed us the image on the computer. And he told us the dark areas will be the areas where there’s no blood flow to the brain.

Doug Dunlap: And that was the whole brain. That was the whole thing. It was just black.

Natalie Morales: Were the doctors giving you any sense of hope?

Doug Dunlap: They were already saying he was brain-dead.

(Looking at brain scan)

Natalie Morales: So, when you see this, I mean, he was in a permanent vegetative state?

Dr. Mercer: No, he was dead. He meets the legal, medical requirements for declaring a patient brain dead.

Since Zack’s license indicated he was an organ donor, they agreed to have his organs harvested so that others could be saved. To make a long story short, two friends who happen to be nurses have a “gut feeling” that he doesn’t look “ready.” One of them scraped Zack’s foot with a pocket knife and was astonished when the foot jerked away. Later, in front of disbelieving medical personnel, he dug his fingernail under Zack’s nail – causing Zack to bring his opposite hand over to bat him away. This resulted in a full stop of transplant plans and they went into rescue mode.

By all counts, Zack has made a remarkable recovery. He is mobile, alert, interactive – and he’s back home – 48 days after being declared “dead.”

Everyone’s calling it a “miracle.”

Me, I’m a little bothered by that particular leap of faith. Does this use of the word “miracle” simply give us permission to avoid asking bothersome questions about diagnostic procedures at the hospital – or maybe even about the “certainty” attached to the diagnosis of “brain death.”

Because calling it a “miracle” lets to medical people off the hook. Calling it a “miracle” prevents us from asking if others who have been declared “brain dead” might have been like Zack Dunlap – only not as lucky as Zack, because they had no one looking to see if maybe he might be alive after all.

The use of the term “miracle” is common in stories like these – and I’ve written about it before in relation to other stories of “miraculous” recoveries:

The next time you see a story like that of Finley, Ramirez, or Poutre, avoid thinking of them as “miracles” and think of them as survivors. And let’s ask their doctors how many other patients they’re treating aren’t quite so lucky.

I feel the same way now. So, if y’all don’t mind, I’ll think of Zack Dunlap as a “survior” rather than as a “miracle.” “Miracles” defy definition – stories of survival invite further exploration. –Stephen Drake

Nat Hentoff on Obama and Schiavo

life-ending decisions, media coverage, Our News & Commentary Blog, politics, schiavo

Nat Hentoff is a familiar name for those of us in the battles against euthanasia, assisted suicide, and infanticide.

The comments Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama made during the February 26th debate with Hillary Clinton caught Hentoff’s attention as well as ours.

Writing in Jewish World Review, Hentoff writes:

In none of the endless presidential candidates’ debates has there been a meaningful discussion of the rights of disabled Americans. However, in the Feb. 26 debate in Cleveland, Barack Obama casually and ignorantly revealed his misunderstanding of the basic issue in the highly visible and still-resonating official death sentence of a disabled woman, Terri Schiavo. I have repeatedly called her death the result of “the longest public execution in American history.”

In his first sentence, Hentoff has identified a silence that has escaped others in the media. No presidential candidate, of either party, has discussed the issues facing Americans with disabilities. Both Clinton and Obama have detailed positions on disability issues on their campaign sites, but it’s not something they talk about in debates or on the stump. I’m not sure if John McCain has any positions on disability issues on his own campaign site, but his silence on our issues is as thorough as his Democrat counterparts.

The omission of disability issues in the presidential debates isn’t his main point though:

When moderator Tim Russert asked Hillary Clinton and Obama if “there are any words or votes that you’d like to take back … in your careers in public service,” Obama answered that in his first year in the Senate, he joined an agreement “that allowed Congress to interject itself (in the Schiavo case) into the decision-making process of the families.”

Obama added: ‘I think that was a mistake, and I think the American people understood that was a mistake. And as a constitutional law professor, I knew better.”

When he was a professor of constitutional law, Obama probably instructed his students to research and know all the facts of a case. The reason Congress asked
the federal courts to review the Schiavo case was that the 41-year-old woman about to be dehydrated and starved to death was breathing normally on her own, was not terminal, and there was medical evidence that she was responsive, not in a persistent vegetative state.

One of the leading congressional advocates of judicial review was staunchly liberal Democratic Tom Harkin of Iowa, because he is deeply informed about disability rights. By contrast, in all of this inflamed controversy, the mainstream media performed miserably, copying each other’s errors instead of doing their own investigations of what Terri’s wishes actually were. Consequently, most Americans did not know that 29 major national disability-rights organizations filed legal briefs and lobbied Congress to understand that this was not a right-to-die case, but about the right to continue living.

A caveat here – when Hentoff talks about “mainstream media” I hope he is including Fox News Channel along with MSNBC and other “mainstream” sources. Fox News was every bit as guilty as other networks in terms of framing the fight for Terri Schiavo’s life as a “culture wars” controversy as the other networks were. This wasn’t “liberal” bias – the right and the left worked in tandem on this – and in a way that kept the perspectives and involvement of disability advocates out of the public discourse.

Read the rest of the article here.

And for more info on safeguards recommended by disability advocates for people under guardianship in terms of treatment withdrawal, check out the STATEMENT OF COMMON PRINCIPLES ON LIFE-SUSTAINING CARE AND TREATMENT OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES and the list of organizational endorsements for the Statement. –Stephen Drake

NDY Quoted in AP Coverage of Kevorkian While Others in the Media Drop the Ball

advocacy, Kevorkian, media coverage, Our News & Commentary Blog, politics

Last night, the Associated Press issued a story on Jack Kevorkian’s formal announcement of his intended candidacy for Congress in Michigan’s 9th District. Right now, the story is on about 25 different news sites. It’s hard to know which link will stay up the longest. I’ll go with ABC for now, anyway:

When asked about his health, Kevorkian said he had recovered fairly well from ailments he had behind bars. But he later said he is dealing with Hepatitis C, temporal arteritis and high-blood pressure.

Disability activists released a statement Monday criticizing Kevorkian, noting that his lawyer had filed appeals for Kevorkian’s release in 2003, 2004 and 2005 claiming he had only a year to live.

“The voters deserve proof that Kevorkian will live long enough to serve out a congressional term,” said Stephen Drake of Not Dead Yet, a disability rights group that opposes legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide.

The quote from Not Dead Yet didn’t happen by accident, but by some quick work and at least one receptive ear.

Over the weekend, news came out that Kevorkian would hold a press conference on Monday announcing his candidacy. Monday morning, we cranked out the following press release and faxed it out to the Associated Press in Detroit, followed by the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News:

Disability Activists Question “Honesty and Sincerity” of “Candidate” Kevorkian

This morning, various news sources report that Jack Kevorkian formally announced his intention to run as an independent candidate for Congress in Michigan’s 9th district. Earlier reports quoted Kevorkian as saying he was running because he would bring “honesty and sincerity” to government.

Predictably, the media didn’t confront Kevorkian with any hard questions they would throw at a legitimate candidate, even though a high-profile maverick run like his could very well tip the balance of the election results, even if he has no hope of winning the seat.

“It was deplorable, but possibly excusable, when the press described Kevorkian as “dying” when he was released from prison. After all, that’s what his lawyer claimed. But then why didn’t anyone ask any questions when he soon presented himself as someone full of vigor and long-range plans?” says Stephen Drake, research analyst for Not Dead Yet, a national disability rights group opposed to legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide.

That won’t do when it comes to a candidate for public office, says Drake. As the Associated Press reported in December of 2006, Governor Granholm’s office confirmed that Mayer Morgenroth filed appeals for Kevorkian’s release in 2003, 2004, and 2005 claiming Kevokian had “less than a year to live.” Morgenroth, who is Kevorkian’s attorney, repeated the claim in his final appeal in 2006.

“Given the repeated claims of Kevorkian’s impending death over the past few years, the voters deserve proof that Kevorkian will live long enough to serve out a Congressional term,” says Drake. “The public and the press should ask Kevorkian to make his medical records public – including the medical records from the prison’s doctors.”

If these records give Kevorkian a clean bill of health, it won’t end his problems, says Drake. He’ll then have to answer how the repeated – and obviously exaggerated – claims of his impending death match up with his promise of “honesty and sincerity.”
###

We followed up with phone calls, talking directly to a reporter at the Detroit Free Press, a staffer at the Associated Press, and had to leave a message on the voice mail of Detroit News reporter covering this story.

The Detroit Free Press reporter seemed kind of bored with the idea that Kevorkian should actually be challenged in the way a real candidate should

Things went better at the Associated Press, though. The staffer allowed the apparent discrepancy between his lawyer saying he was “dying” and his current activities was a legitimate point. To make it stronger, I pointed that this particular district had been singled out by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee as part of its “Red to Blue” campaign – Congressional seats held by Republicans regarded as vulnerable. Candidates in this campaign get resources from the national committee.

Kevorkian’s candidacy, I suggested, could work in that district in the same way Ralph Nader’s candidacy did on a national level in 2000, guaranteeing the Rebublican incumbent his seat. That would suggest that Kevorkian be treated more seriously than is usually the case

Apparently, that approach worked, with the AP anyway
That’s about the only place, though. Just this morning, self-proclaimed political “experts” Willy Geist, Mika Brzezinski, Chris Matthews, and Pat Buchanan were all laughing about “candidate” Kevorkian on “Morning Joe.” They all seem to think it’s funny because he has no chance of winning

Seems to me that back in 2000, we all knew that Ralph Nader had no chance of winning his presidential bid. But no one laughed about it. And after the results came in, no could claim his candidacy didn’t make a difference

It’s quite possible that Gary Peters, the Democratic candidate in the 9th District, may get a chance to experience what it’s like to be squeezed out of contention by a fringe candidate. –Stephen Drake