The swiftness of the doctor's latest death opens new debate
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DETROIT
Members of the Archdiocese of Detroit tried to get in touch with
Roosevelt
Dawson after learning that the college student was released from a
hospital in
western Michigan They wanted to discuss alternatives to assisted suicide
witti
Dawson, who had said he wanted to die with the help of Dr. Jack
Kevorkian.
They were too late.
About five hours after he left Metropolitan Hospital in Grand Rapids the
21-year old quadriplegic killed himself with Kevorkian's help.
Michael Dowd, an investigator with the Oakland County Medical Examiner's
office said Friday that Dawson died by a lethal injection of poison and
the
death has been ruled a homicide. Dowd declined further comment.
Geoffrey Fieger, Kevorkian's attorney, said Dawson died about 7:30 p.m.
at his
mother's apartment in the Detroit suburb of Southfield.
The swiftness of the act angered Archdiocese officials who say there’s
no way
Kevorkian could have provided adequateccounselling.
"What was the big hurry"' asked Ned McGrath, a spokesman for the
Archdiocese-
"Why wasn't this young man provided time with experienced professionals
outside of the hospital environment?"
Dawson had been unable to use his arms and legs and had depended on a
ventilater to breathe since a viral infection attacked his spinal cord
13
months ago.
Jim Childress, a spokesman for Metropolitan Hospital, said the infection
is
known as transverse myelitis, and the damage it causes to a person's
spine is
not known to he reversible.
"It's like a tornado," Childi.ess said. "It comes, it does its damage
and it
goes.
Michael Schwartz, another, Keyorktan attorney, said Dawson already had
suffered for a year and had ample time to consider his decision.
"He had the love of his faintly, and he made his choice after due
deliberation," Schwartz said Friday.
On Wednesday, the Kent County Probate Court denied a request by
Metropolitan
Hospital to hold Dawson involuntarily. The hospital sought a commitment
order
earlier this week after Fieger, who also represented Dawson, said he
intended
to seek Dawson's release.
Fieger said Kevorkian and Dawson had spoken by telephone several times
over
the last few months.
"I can describe his mood at the end as virtually ecstatic," Fieger said
of
Dawson in an interview with WWJ-AM radio in Detroit on Friday.
Dawson had opted to die with Kevorkian's help rather than have the
hospital
remove life, support systems to avoid death by suffocating, Fieger had
said.
McGrath said he was hoping Dawson would discuss options with the
Archdiocese's
Project Life, which offers social service agencies, health care
providers and
hospices to guide people in making decisions over suicide and abortion.
"The evaluative process to find out why an individual is requesting
death
takes a lot longer than a car ride from Grand Rapids to Southfield,"
said Dr.
Waiter R Hunter, a doctor with Hospies of Michigan, which participates
in
Project Life.
"I certainly would like to know what (Kevorklan's) evaluative process
is,"
Hunter said.
"What are the steps. ...How do they explore what their options are for
care?"
Workers in tears
As Dawson left the hospital, many workers were in tears.
"These are people who lived with Roosevelt for five months, 24 hours a
day."
Dr. Bill Cunningham, the hospital's chief medical officer, told The
Grand
Rapids Press for a story Friday. "He had a sharp mind and a good sense
of
humor. Now there is this cloud over everything."
Before Daivson contracted the virus, he had planned to pursue premedical
studies at Oakland University and was undergoing management training at
a
local MeDonald's.
He had said he wanted to kill himself because he was unable to live the
life
he once had,
Dawson had said he turned to Kevorkian because of the assisted suicide
advocate's willingness to help people in situations like his.