Transplant in doubt for organs of Kevorkian client

Art Nadler

Monday, June 8, 1998 | 10:13 a.m.

The kidneys taken from a Las Vegas quadriplegic who committed suicide with the aid of Dr. Jack Kevorkian are unlikely to be implanted.

Joseph Tushkowski, 45, apparently died Sunday somewhere in Michigan. Kevorkian, a retired pathologist who has gained national notoriety for helping people to commit suicide, would not say where he died or where the kidneys were removed.

In a press conference in Michigan Sunday, Kevorkian said he was challenging surgeons and hospitals to accept the organs for patients in need.

Dr. Jose Zamora, chief of the division of transplant surgery at University Medical Center Hospital, said Kevorkian was opening himself up to federal prosecution for trying to market organs. That's illegal, Zamora said.

Removal and transplantation of human organs are controlled by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), Zamora said. The national organization has very strict guidelines.

In order for organs to be donated, they must meet three important criteria, Zamora said. They must have been receiving a good flow of oxygen, blood flow and nutrients. This could only be possible if a person is declared brain dead and his bodily functions are still working.

Tushkowski's heart would have been stopped when he committed suicide, Zamora said, which would have hampered these three conditions.

Michigan's organ-donor network said it would not accept the kidneys. The hospitals in Detroit also declined to take the organs.

When contacted Monday morning, Robert Whitcomb, Tushkowski's brother-in-law, said he and his wife, Carol Tushkowski, first heard of Joseph's death when a reporter from Michigan called them on Sunday.

Three months ago, Carol Tushkowski, upon receiving a call from Kevorkian, refused to go into detail about her brother's condition. He had been paralyzed in a hunting accident 21 years ago.

"He (Joseph) had a very good diet for the past 15 years," Whitcomb said Monday. "He ate all kinds of herbs, vegetables and soups."

Whitcomb said he and his wife don't blame Joseph for taking his life. His day consisted mainly of feeding himself and carefully getting out of bed. If he fell, Whitcomb said he couldn't get up.

Whitcomb said they didn't know how Joseph's funeral would be handled at this time. Arrangements were being made by his mother.

Oregon is the only state that has legalized assisted suicide. On Friday, Attorney General Janet Reno removed a federal barrier to the law by saying that doctors who prescribe lethal drugs for terminally ill people won't be prosecuted.

Reno's action overrules a policy statement by Thomas Constantine, administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, who in November had warned doctors against using lethal drugs. Constantine had said that using the drugs was not a legitimate medical use for the drugs under federal drug laws.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS contributed to this story.