Kevorkian release nears after 8 years
Sun, 27 May 2007 12:55:49 GMT
By KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN, Associated Press Writer
LANSING, Mich. - For nearly a decade, Dr. Jack Kevorkian waged a defiant campaign to help other people kill themselves. The retired pathologist left bodies at hospital emergency rooms and motels and videotaped a death that was broadcast on CBS' "60 Minutes." His actions prompted battles over assisted suicide in many states. But as he prepares to leave prison June 1 after serving more than eight years of a 10- to 25-year sentence in the death of a Michigan man, Kevorkian will find that there's still only one state that has a law allowing physician-assisted suicide — Oregon.
Experts say that's because abortion opponents, Catholic leaders, advocates for the disabled and often doctors have fought the efforts of other states to follow the lead of Oregon, where the law took effect in late 1997.
Opponents defeated a measure in Vermont this year and are fighting similar efforts in California. Bills have failed in recent years in Hawaii, Wisconsin and Washington state, and ballot measures were defeated earlier by voters in Washington, California, Michigan and Maine.
Kevorkian's release could spur another round of efforts, if only to prevent anyone else from following his example.
"One of the driving forces of the law was to prevent the Jack Kevorkians from happening," said Kate Davenport, a communications specialist at the Death with Dignity National Center in Portland, Ore., which defended Oregon's law against challenges.
"It wasn't well regulated or sane," she said. "There were just too many potential pitfalls."
Kevorkian, 79, was criticized even by assisted suicide supporters because of his unconventional practices.
He used a machine he'd invented to administer fatal drugs and dropped off bodies at hospital emergency rooms or coroner's offices, or left them to be discovered in the motel rooms where he often met those who wanted his help.
At the time, some doctors didn't want to give dying patients too much pain medication, fearing they'd be accused of hastening death.
Oregon law allows only terminally ill, mentally competent adults who can self-administer the medication to ask a physician to prescribe life-ending drugs, and they must make that request once in writing and twice orally.
Oregon's experience shows that only a tiny percentage of people will ever choose to quicken their death, said Sidney Wanzer, a retired Massachusetts doctor who has been a leader in the right-to-die movement.
From the time the law took effect in 1997 until the end of last year, 292 people asked their doctors to prescribe the drugs they would need to end their lives, an average of just over 30 a year. Most of the 46 people who used the process last year had cancer, and their median age was 74, according to a state report.
Experts say the attention on assisted suicide has helped raise awareness caring for the terminally ill.
"End-of-life care has increased dramatically" in Oregon with more hospice referrals and better pain management, says Valerie Vollmar, a professor at Oregon's Willamette University College of Law who writes extensively on physician-assisted death.
Opponents and supporters of physician-assisted death say more needs to be done to offer hospice care and pain treatment for those who are dying and suffering from debilitating pain.
"The solution here is not to kill people who are getting inadequate pain management, but to remove barriers to adequate pain management," said Burke Balch, director of the Powell Center for Medical Ethics at the
http://www.deathwithdignity.org
Vollmar's physician-assisted suicide Web site: http://www.willamette.edu/wucl/pas/index.htm
National Right to Life Committee: http://www.nrlc.org
To Die Well: http://www.todiewell.com
Diabetic teen and brother create comics
Sun, 27 May 2007 11:39:45 GMT
By ANDALE GROSS, Associated Press Writer
KANSAS CITY, Kan. - The evil Dr. Diabetes leaps from a hospital window, crashing through the glass, determined to infect anyone in his path with the chronic, debilitating disease from which he takes his name. The imposing, green, wild-haired monster scowls, punches the air and taunts, "I will make sure that everyone on the planet feels my pain. The whole world will have diabetes."
In real life, 13-year-old Kamaal Washington — one of the creators of the Dr. Diabetes comic book character — faces his own battle with diabetes. The teen says the adventures that he and his 11-year-old brother, Malcolm, capture in their comic books are meant to spread awareness about the disease and empower those who have it.
"You control the disease," says Kamaal, "don't let it control you."
The comic books tell the stories of children who learn they have diabetes and find themselves visited by Dr. Diabetes. But his wicked intentions are foiled by the heroes of the comics, Omega Boy and later, Mighty Boy. The books are sold online but will be available soon at Walgreen and CVS shops in the Kansas City area and comic book shops nationally.
Kamaal and Malcolm are working on their third diabetes-themed comic. Slated for July, the comic tells the story of a politician who refuses to work to increase funds to find a cure for diabetes and the heroes' quest to change that.
Kamaal was 9 when he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, which is most commonly found in younger children and teens and makes them dependent on injected or pumped insulin for life. With this form of diabetes, the body's immune system attacks and destroys the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas. As many as 3 million Americans may have Type 1 diabetes, according to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
Kamaal checks his blood sugar seven to eight times a day and must watch how much sugar and salt he eats. He wears an insulin pump so he can get a supply of insulin whenever he needs it, without having to receive shots. The pump includes a device about the size of a cell phone that contains insulin, with a thin tube that allows the insulin to flow from the device to Kamaal's stomach.
Diabetes was largely an unknown to the boy before a family trip to St. Louis in 2003 when Kamaal was taken to the emergency room after complaining of constant thirst and feeling ill. Kamaal's great-grandmother on his mother's side had Type 2 diabetes. But no other family members had the disease.
"I got really scared," Kamaal says. "I was wondering what would happen to me."
The diabetes books that doctors gave the boy, with their big words and medical terminology, weren't much help. So Kamaal and his brother, Malcolm, were drawing one day and came up with a way to make it easier for kids to learn about diabetes and how to control the disease.
"We decided to do a comic book," Kamaal says. "We wanted it to be fun and educational."
Their dad, Alonzo, an artist and civic activist, publishes the comics and through his company, Omega 7 Comics. The boys' comics, which sell for $5 each, can be bought on the Omega 7 Web site.
Kamaal and Malcolm have sold and donated to diabetes groups about 90,000 copies of the comics and have given about half of their $135,000 in profits to diabetes causes, their parents said.
The young artists remain as committed to their creation as they were when the idea came to them a few years ago.
"At that young of an age, to not only think of themselves but to want to help others that are going through the same situation is very noble," said their mother, Dana Washington, who manages the boys' comic career. "There are many adults who are uncomfortable about speaking about their health issues, and for Kamaal to be able to talk about something that is so personal is just amazing to me."
Their comic books have brought awards and taken them around the country to speak about diabetes. Kamaal has served as a Children's Congress delegate for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, joining hundreds of other young diabetics in testifying before the U.S. Senate about diabetes research support.
Kamaal and Malcolm — who count the Japanese anime series Naruto among their biggest influences — want to create their own animated series and perhaps produce a movie.
"It will always have action and be fun to look at, but it will also be educational," Kamaal says. "We always want to have a message."
___
On the Net:
Omega 7 Comics: http://www.omega7.com
CDC warns about contact lens solution
Sat, 26 May 2007 15:04:15 GMT
By MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer
ATLANTA - Government officials are warning people to throw away a contact lens solution after an investigation linked it to a rare eye infection.
The warning concerns AMO Complete Moisture Plus Multi-Purpose Solution, used for cleaning and storing soft contact lenses, said a spokeswoman for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The solution seems to be a factor cases of Acanthamoeba keratitis, a painful eye infection that can lead to permanent vision loss or blindness.
The
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasites/acanthamoeba/index.htm
