There's still time for the noose.

"Kevorkian seems to have second thoughts about helping people die"

I understand Ted Bundy had similar second thoughts. Oh well that's what happens when you get caught up in living life to the fullest.

Bundy didn't. Dahmer was truly sorry and thankful he was caught.

His second thoughts aren't about his message, they're about his method of getting his message across.

You may not agree with him, but comparing him to Bundy and Dahmer??? Come on. Putting him in jail is a travesty.

Dahmer was ill and knew it. Bundy and Kevorkian are evil.

"Dr." Death preyed on the old. He worked on their fears until they "freely" let him "help" kill them. The Bundy comparison is exactly right.

Erp is right however that it is a travesty that he is in prison. Not in the way she meant. The gallows are what he deserved.

OJ, I should tell you that Bundy was a Republican Party activist in Washington State....(Wikipedia was nice enough to remind us)

IIRC a victim of ALS, I can't remember her name, was only in her 40's when she asked Kevorkian to help her commit suicide. It's not the age, but the severity and hopelessness of the disease that causes people to wish to end their life.

I don't know if Kervordian is a prophet or not, but I certainly don't think he's criminal who should be jailed, especially such a long sentence considering his age.

No, it's just an episode of depression and someone willing to prey on them.

I'm pretty much with erp on this one. We former Vermonter seasoned citizens have stubborn independent streaks.

Good one! The flatlanders won't even likely notice that by independent you mean "assisted."

I'll change "old" to "depressed". It hardly makes me change my mind. Sympathy should be saved for his victims.

That curve ball didn't break. It all depends on the meaning of "assisted".

When I was younger, I worked at a nursing home. Not a very good one. It was a hard job. There I met a woman named Gladys, who was in her 7th year of ALS paralysis. I'm glad that Dr. Death wasn't around when Gladys was first diagnosed. Not surprisingly, she was profoundly depressed.

Instead of killing her, they treated her for depression, and by the time I got to know her, she was everyone's favorite. That a person so completely helpless in a physical sense could still manage to shower grace on everyone in her limited little nursing home world had a profound affect on anyone who was paying attention.

And it wasn't just me--there was another resident, a crotchety old WWII vet, refused to cut his hair, always had to argue him out of bed to change the linens, physically abusive to senile residents who irritated hime (and he was not senile at all).

The only person who made him act human was Gladys--he would turn the pages of the Reader's Digest Condensed books in the day room and have a therefore have a noble purpose.

When you are really ready to die, you can always stop eating and shut your body down through an act of will, or sometimes (like with Gladys) it's more like surrender--I witnessed both over and over again in the two years I cared for the dying. Asking someone else to "help" is really asking for permission, and if you have to ask permission, you're not really ready.

ghost:

No, it all depends on you nopt meaning independent.

I in no way think that everyone with ALS wants to commit suicide, and the psychotropic drugs now available to lift an afflicted person's depression may not have been available several decades ago when the incident I referenced occurred, I don't really know. This was also before Living Wills and DNR instructions. People couldn't starve themselves so easily because once a feeding tube was inserted, it would have been darn near impossible for her or her family to have it removed even if they were so inclined.

The reason I am against generalized rules and regs is that everyone and every situation is different. The lovely lady Ted describes enjoyed her life and lifted up another's even though most of us would find her situation intolerable, but that doesn't mean others shouldn't be able to make different choices.

My mother just died at 91 from vascular dementia aka arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). She was quite active mentally and physically until a couple of months before her death. Hospice took care of her at the end and I was very glad to enlist their services because they didn't attempt to prolong her life, only make her comfortable while her body shut down on its own schedule.

For some weeks before she died, she had already moved out of our world and lived among the old friends and loved who had gone before her and then when she was ready, she went very quietly into the night to join them and for that I'm very grateful.

No, it isn't. It's pretty easy to kill yourself.