European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 7, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Thursday june 7, 1990 the stars and stripes a Page 5ore. Woman uses doctors a suicide machine Detroit apr a terminally ill Oregon woman suffering from alzheimer a disease killed herself monday by becoming the first person to use a Michigan doctors controversial a suicide the last tiling Janet Adkins told or. Jack Kevorkian on monday was a you just make my Case known a then he said she pressed a Button on the contraption and released a lethal mixture of chemicals into her veins. Some medical ethicist called the doctors actions immoral and perhaps illegal. A prosecutor said he would wait for autopsy results before deciding whether to charge Kevorkian and will seek an injunction to prevent the doctor from using the device again. The Portland woman a husband defended his wife a right to die. A a it a not a matter of How Long you live but the Quality of life you live and it was her life and her decision and she chose a Ron Adkins told Portland skate to. A she made that decision based upon the fact that the things she loved most a Reading literature music a and All that she do one of the couples three sons Neil said a she was in a very Good state of mind that a the amazing thing. A it was not a desperate thing or a depressed situation. She was the one that helped us All through it a Neil Adkins told Kew to in Portland. Kevorkian said Adkins travelled to Michigan Over the weekend to use his suicide device. After agreeing to let her use the device he said he then drove the 54-Ycar-old woman in his Van to a Park in Northern Oakland county on monday afternoon. According to Kevorkian he and one of his relatives attached Adkins to a heart Monitor then put an intravenous tube in her Arm. The tube first delivers a harmless Saline solution Kevorkian said. Then he said the woman pressed a Button that injected Thi Pental a coma inducing drug followed moments later by potassium Chloride which stops the heart within minutes. He said she was unconscious in 25 seconds and died in five or six minutes. A it simulates exactly the judicial executions that we do now with Legal executions except with this device the person does it himself by pushing a Button a Kevorkian told the Detroit news on monday. A the last thing Janet Adkins said was a you just make my Case known a a said Kevorkian. The doctor is a retired pathologist and an outspoken advocate of what he Calls doctor assisted suicide. Quot physicians should not be killers even in cases where the patient requests it and there is a compassionate reason behind the act a said Susan Wolf of the Hastings Center for Bio medical research in Briarcliff . A they take an oath to do no harm and taking a life is doing Kevorkian said in March that he expected to be prosecuted after the first use of the drug injecting device. He also said he would not charge patients and retired Michigan pathologist or. Jack Kevorkian demonstrates his suicide device in this file photo. A that he might use it to take his own life some Day. Kevorkian could not be reached by the associated press. The phone at his suburban Detroit office was repeatedly Busy. After Adkins died Kevorkian notified police. Oakland county prosecutor Richard Thompson said he will not decide if he will bring charges against the doctor until he gets an autopsy report and state police finish their investigation. The police have the device Thompson added. Kevorkian said Adkins came to Michigan with her husband and a Friend but they left before she died. In Oregon providing the Means to commit suicide is a felony but Michigan has no Law against suicide assisted by a physical. Kevorkian said the Adkines contacted him in october after learning about his device and he recommended treatment with an experimental drug at a Seattle Hospital. A it did no to work a Ron Adkins said. A it was hard on us All of us because we be been mourning for an entire year knowing that this was what she had in the device itself a an aluminium Frame with three suspended bottles and a Small electric motor a is not illegal said Gerald Poisson assistant Oakland county prosecutor. But in certain cases the person who made it available to the suicide victim could be charged with homicide he said tuesday. Jim Baughman of the Wayne county prosecutors office in Detroit said in a preliminary opinion last year that helping someone die would not be a crime if the patient injected the drugs. But two lawyers specializing in medical ethics after hearing details of the Kevorkian Case said his actions were improper. A what this physician did was Way Over the line a said Wolf. A it was unethical and May Well have been but according to the american medical association passive euthanasia is ethical said Reinhard Priesler of the Center for biomedical ethics at the University of the Portsmouth n.h., Navy Yard in Maine Alfred Maine apr a a Border War Quot sparked by a politicians claim that Portsmouth naval shipyard is in new Hampshire spilled Over into Maine on tuesday As the states attorneys general met to discuss the skirmish. A we had an excellent meeting but i certainly saw nothing that would indicate that the Portsmouth naval shipyard is not in Maine a the states attorney general James e. Tierney said after meeting with his new Hampshire counterpart John p. Arnold. Arnold stopped Short of insisting that the shipyard is in new Hampshire. But he said evidence produced a Day earlier by . Rep. Bob Smith a Republican running for the Senate was serious. A from new Hampshire a standpoint i would not View it As a carnival Issue a Arnold said. Military reference books and the postal address place the shipyard which is on Seavey a Island in the Pisca Taqua River m new Hampshire. Should the state Challenge Maine a Long time claim to the Yard the Case would go directly to the . Supreme court. The two states agreed to continue negotiations As they try to resolve the dispute. Tierney and Arnold refused to disclose specifics of their have said Smith brought up the Issue to gain publicity in his gop primary Campaign. Tierney requested the meeting with Arnold a week before a contested primary election in which he Hopes to become the democratic nominee in Maine a 1st congressional District race. But he disputed a suggestion that he might be trying to bolster his own ambitions. A i would be delighted if congressman Smith had not had his press conference a Day earlier in Portsmouth Tierney said. New Hampshire residents who work at the shipyard pay Maine income tax and they Are particularly angry Over a so called spousal tax that Maine levies on joint returns. That taxes the income of the spouse who works in Maine based on the entire households income even if some comes from new Hampshire which has no personal income tax. According to Victor Bourre a shipyard worker and new Hampshire resident who started exploring the question in 1987 because he was tired of paying the Maine income tax the territory now known As Maine originally included All land beyond a North and East of a the Pisca Taqua River. King George ii a 1737 ruling settled a Border dispute Between new Hampshire and Massachusetts then both British colonies. That ruling moved the Boundary Between new Hampshire and Maine then part of Massachusetts to the mid dle of the River he said. Tierney and Arnold said their staffers would meet within the next few weeks to discuss the Issue further the next meeting will be in new Hampshire. Arnold brought documents purporting to show that the shipyard is really in new Hampshire because of boundaries that were set up in colonial Days. Tierney said he would review new Hampshire stands of time evidence but he plans to stick to boundaries that were in place when Maine became a state in 1820. If the states end up before the supreme court the Case could Lake years to resolve and Cost each Side millions of dollars Tierney said. Lawyers might have to go to England to research documents dating Back centuries and expensive expert witnesses would have to be assembled he the stars and stripes 40 years ago today ,. June 7, 1950 a Gen. Omar n. Bradley said he saw a no immediate threat of War a but said Europe must be re armed with free american arms to keep any potential aggressor from starting a War a by Accident or design.�?�30 years ago today. June 7, 1960 a Union machinists struck several key missile facilities threatening to tie up a major portion of the nations aircraft and missile industry.20 years ago today. June 7, 1970 a president Nixon announced that Robert h. Finch was leaving his Post As Secretary of health education and welfare to join the White House stall�?T.10 years ago today. June 7, 1980 a in a move to boost morale and re enlist rents the army announced it would shorten the time of Many Tours in Europe and Japan. Certain soldiers serving their first 3-year enlistments would be assigned to posts for Only 18 months instead of 24 months
