Henderson woman kills self with help

Friday, June 27, 1997 | 11:25 a.m.

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. -- Hours after the Supreme Court ruled the terminally ill don't have a constitutional right to end their lives, the body of a Las Vegas area woman was found in a motel with a note to call Dr. Jack Kevorkian's lawyer.

At a news conference this morning, Kevorkian attorney Geoffrey Fieger identified the woman as 40-year-old Janis Murphy of Henderson.

The blond-haired, blue-eyed woman suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia (muscle pains), Fieger said. The diseases are not considered terminal.

"Over the years, I've seen my daughter experience intractable and unrelenting pain," her father, James Linda, said in a statement read by Fieger. He said he hated losing his only child but "there are things in this world worse than death."

She was a patient at Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, Calif.

Murphy, born Janis Linda in Boston, moved from Massachusetts to a $250,000 house with a swimming pool on the Legacy golf course in Green Valley in January 1994. A neighbor in the gated subdivision said Murphy once was a television reporter. The couple didn't have any children.

Her next-door neighbor, who didn't want to be named, said she often saw Murphy's husband walking their dog. But Murphy "never went outside" except in her car.

"They were very quiet people, very nice," the neighbor said, who noted that they were retired. "They kept to themselves." The husband was not at their home today.

Another neighbor, Lorena McDonald, said that Murphy had been sick for a long time. "The past year was a very hard year for them. We rarely saw them outside because I don't think she was able to. They spent a long time trying to find a cure or some kind of help."

The Oakland County Medical Examiner's Office today ruled the death a homicide, Southfield Police Officer John Harris said. An autopsy done this morning determined that she died from carbon monoxide poisoning and indicated no evidence of disease, Harris said.

Dr. Andres Costas, a pain management specialist in Las Vegas, said he treats patients by recommending exercise and stretching. If patients don't do stretching exercises, the pain gets worse, he said. Another problem, he said, is that many patients become depressed, making the pain even worse.

"You have to keep them moving," Costas said. "The muscles shrink. The treatment is to stretch the muscles back to their normal length."

Some patients, however, resist exercise and become sedentary.

Frank Wrenn, a spokesman for the Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome Association, based in Charlotte, N.C., said fibromyalgia "is a common overlap with chronic fatigue syndrome."

"One of the traditional differences is for fibromyalgia exercise is beneficial, whereas with chronic fatigue syndrome, the jury's still out. Even minor exercise can exacerbate the symptoms."

Kevorkian assisted his 35th patient last August in suicide who suffered from both fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, Wrenn said, adding, "The pain is hard to live with. It's a very difficult thing for some people who were once very active."

Speaking by phone to NBC's "Today" show, Fieger refused to say whether Kevorkian was involved.

"There's one doctor I know who's not afraid and who isn't intimidated and that would be Dr. Kevorkian, who stands up for patients," he said.

"What this is about is people's rights in the United States not to suffer," Fieger said. "We've been doing it in Michigan for the last seven years and we're going to continue doing it.

"I represent the rights of suffering people in Michigan."

Police, acting on an anonymous tip, went to the Residence Inn shortly after 11 p.m. Thursday and found the body on a bed in a room, Harris said. A note left with the body directed police to call Fieger, he said. Police did not consider the note to be a suicide note, Harris said.

Even if Kevorkian were involved, it could be difficult to charge him, said Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca.

"It's more difficult in the last year to even charge Kevorkian in as much as typically the only witness available is now deceased and the family members and Kevorkian refuse to cooperate and take the Fifth Amendment," he said today.

"So we can assume things that Kevorkian was present but from a legal standpoint, it'd be difficult to charge anybody because of the scant evidence."

Kevorkian, 69, has admitted attending at least 45 deaths. Murphy's body is the fifth that has recently been found in Detroit-area motels along with notes indicating Fieger should be contacted.

Earlier this month, a judge ruled a mistrial in an Ionia case against Kevorkian, saying Fieger's opening arguments prejudiced jurors. It was the fourth unsuccessful trial against the retired pathologist.

On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld laws in New York and Washington state that make it a crime for doctors to give life-ending drugs to mentally competent but terminally ill patients who no longer want to live.

Dr. Timothy Quill, the New York doctor involved in the U.S. Supreme Court case, in April called physician-assisted suicide a "bad option."

"I've been associated with Dr. Kevorkian for the last seven years. It's Michigan and I frankly don't think Dr. Quill was in Michigan last night," Fieger told NBC.

After the Supreme Court ruled, Fieger held a news conference.

"Dr. Kevorkian will not change anything," Fieger said Thursday. "Dr. Kevorkian is doing what is right and what is supported by the overwhelming majority of citizens of this state. ... It's time for other doctors to step up."

Asked if Kevorkian was contemplating assisting a suicide in the wake of the ruling, Fieger said: "I wouldn't tell you if I knew. And you never know."

A spokesman from the Archdiocese of Detroit this morning condemned the death as a "maniacal, publicity stunt staged by Fieger and Kevorkian to advance their cause."

"Go back and look at the deaths they've brokered on days subsequent to court decisions or news coverage that hasn't given them the spin they wanted," spokesman Ned McGrath said in a statement. "What happens later that night? Just in time for the next's day's morning drive radio and local TV stations - another death."

Also this morning, Fieger said he is going to run for governor of Michigan.

SUN REPORTER Cathy Scott contributed to this report.