Planned Kevorkian speech draws protests

Jack Kevorkian, shown in 1991 with his "suicide machine."
AP photo from New York Times.

A scheduled speaking engagement by Jack Kevorkian at the University of Florida is drawing protests from critics of euthanasia. Bobby Schindler, brother of Terri Schiavo, is organizing a petition drive seeking to get UF to withdraw its invitation to the man who has been called Doctor Death.

"The scheduled Oct. 11 appearance at UF will likely be his first paid public speaking engagement since his June 1 release from prison, according to his attorney. Kevorkian served eight years for second-degree murder in the poisoning of a man who had Lou Gehrig's disease."

Other recent coverage of Kevorkian includes:

-- An interview in the New York Times after his release from prison.

"But eight years behind bars and a strict list of promises to gain parole have done nothing to mellow the blunt, passionate, combative advocate for physician-assisted suicide. "

-- An interview by Detroit Free Press columnist Mitch Albom.

"After an hour, I knew I wouldn't want to go via Jack Kevorkian, a man for whom the world is bleak, happiness is rare, belief is a waste of time and life is a finite, meaningless entity. The act he champions may indeed be one of compassion, but how can it be delivered by such a cold, cold heart?"

-- A column in the Boston Globe, "Helping my Father Die," by Darshak Sanghavi.

"Dr. Jack Kevorkian was never an attractive poster child for dignified and comfortable deaths for the terminally ill. That's too bad, because Kevorkian was on to something important."