Where I Stand — Mike O’Callaghan: Real murder on the tube

Tuesday, Dec. 1, 1998 | 11:36 a.m.

THE CBS NEWS program "60 Minutes" showed the world Jack Kevorkian killing Thomas Youk, 52, who suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease. What we saw wasn't physician-assisted suicide, but was Dr. Death personally administering the dose of poison that killed Youk. Yes, and it was all done on prime time for television viewing.

Almost eight years have passed since I suggested that state executions of killers, kidnappers and rapists be televised. I suggested that legal executions be televised for a few years to see if it had any positive or negative effects on the general public or criminals. I added that "executions shouldn't be on the screen during children's hour... " Even this suggestion caused some heated letters that said executions shouldn't be brought into our living rooms at any time. But there it was, in prime time, Kevorkian killing Youk on national television.

I'm not a qualified critic of television programming and don't intend to get into the business of censoring media outlets. As an adult, I do my own censoring by turning my television set on and off or by changing stations. What CBS has done is pump life back into a guy that most Americans have come to view as just another nut who has found a place in Michigan where he can kill sick people who aren't being cared for properly.

The Boston Globe newspaper calls Kevorkian a 70-year-old man who is a "ghoulish self-promoter who acknowledges assisting at the suicides of about 120 terminally ill people." The editor goes on to say that he "is fascinated with the machinery of death and his own personal role in the national debate on physician-assisted suicide." So CBS showed him, displaying no compassion for the suffering victim, killing a desperate person.

Three years ago, the general counsel for the American Medical Association, Kirk Johnson, wrote a letter to Michigan Attorney General Frank Kelley expressing deep concern about Kevorkian's conduct. Johnson was especially concerned about Kevorkian undermining the public's trust in the medical profession. He went on to write:

"The AMA establishes the Code of Ethics for the medical profession. One of the fundamental principles of that code is that physicians must not act with the intent of causing the death of their patients. Physician-assisted suicide is simply incompatible with the physician's role as healer. When faced with patients who are terminally ill and suffering, physicians must relieve their suffering by providing adequate comfort care.

"This obligation is paramount: It is ethical for physicians to provide effective pain medication even if the medication may have the side effect of suppressing respiration and hastening death.

"Responsible persons may have differing views concerning the propriety of physician-assisted suicide. However, no civilized society should condone assisted suicide as practiced by Jack Kevorkian. Mr. Kevorkian's actions are not those of a primary treating physician. Rather, he serves merely as a reckless instrument of death. In our view, Jack Kevorkian poses a great threat to the public, and we ask you to help in bringing these criminal practices to a close."

There can be no doubt that Dr. Death has crossed the line by actually injecting the deadly poison into Youk's system. Even people who are willing to go along with physician-assisted suicide now must admit that Kevorkian didn't assist in the killing -- he was the killer.

A Los Angeles Times newspaper editorial puts its finger on a very important issue when pointing out, "Correct as it is to prosecute Kevorkian, trying him will do little to improve the way America cares for its terminally ill. Roughly three-quarters of Americans expire in hospitals or nursing homes, often helpless and stuck full of tubes. According to a study by the National Institute of Medicine, more than a third of Americans die in pain that could be eased. Physician groups need to formulate 'best practice guidelines' on how to improve palliative care of the terminally ill."

In our society, suicide, assisted or unassisted, shouldn't even have to be considered or carried out by suffering or depressed individuals. Even more important, what took place on "60 Minutes" was murder and the killer should, at the very least, face life in prison.