From: covici@ccs.covici.com (John Covici)
Reply-To: covici@ccs.covici.com
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.catholic
Subject: Where There's Hope There's Life Euthanasia Kills Them Both
Date: 7 Nov 92 22:47:13 GMT
Organization: Covici Computer Systems

Where There's Hope, There's Life--Euthanasia Kills Both

CLUB OF LIFE by Linda Everett On Oct. 30, an Allegan, Mich. 
probate court refused the request of a woman to starve to death 
her husband, who is partially paralyzed and brain-damaged since 
a 1987 accident. Mary Martin claims that her husband, Michael, 
41, who communicates through nods, waves, and a computer device, 
has ``lost his dignity. He's had a colostomy. He wears a diaper. 
He can't feed himself.'' For this she wants to kill him.
She ignores the great strides Mike has made in physical therapy 
in the last two years, and reduces his visits with old work 
buddies and the hours he works on a new communications device 
to living ``like a vegetable.'' She pummels him every other 
day with the question: ``Do you want to die?''
-  Dr. Death - This case typifies the disastrous
impact Jack Kevorkian has had in Michigan since he began a spree 
of killing sick and handicapped women two years ago. Two Kevorkian 
victims had what he and his attorney called ``terminal'' ``malignant'' 
multiple sclerosis (MS). They had ``nothing to live for''; ``a 
life of no meaning''; or were ``disgusted with life.''
MS is a chronic, sometimes progressive neurological disease 
that blocks the transmission of nerve impulses from the brain 
to muscles and body parts. People with MS can have nearly normal 
life-expectancy, with symptoms of fatigue, slurred speech, visual 
impairment, and sometimes, paralysis.
-  Living with Dignity - While the lunatic Kevorkian asks
who in his right mind would try to stop ``a cripple ... who 
can't even talk'' from wanting to kill himself, the Living and 
Learning Center right there in Lansing, Mich. (1-800-274-7426) 
helps anyone of any age with any disability, even those who 
are so incapacitated they can control only {one} muscle in their 
bodies, to vocalize full sentences and write using commercially 
available augmentative communication devices. The Alliance for 
Technology Access (1-800-992-8111) has 3,500 adaptive devices, 
from those which zip zippers to those which adapt personal computers 
with oversized monitors and free available software and hardware 
options to enlarge texts and increase contrast. This allows 
the legally blind (one of Dr. Death's victims was legally blind) 
to read and type.
With all this technological advance, Kevorkian is managing to 
create such pessimism in Michigan that now, even having a colostomy 
(as Mike Martin did) is cause enough to be killed.
-  Jonathan Kopit - Another terrifc dispeller of
despair is also to be found in Michigan: a Michigan couple, 
Jonathan Kopit and Ina Cohen, both attorneys.  Jonathan recently 
retired after he maintained for 16 years a practice in workmen's 
compensation and appeals, at the law firm of Plunkett & Cooney.  
Although Jon Kopit has had MS for 30 years, he worked full time, 
using first a cane, then a wheelchair and recording equipment.
Whatever it took, the firm, his staff, and especially Ina, sized 
up the problem and found a way to overcome it.  Strapped to 
a wheelchair, Jon took on a major case; unable to read, write, 
or hold materials, he contributed (with assistance) to the Michigan 
Bar Journal.
His serious disabilities never impaired his irrepressible sense 
of humor. His fellow attorneys say Jon made them ``more human.'' 
The teenagers who helped him, at first aghast that he wanted 
to go on living with such problems, grew to understand and join 
Jon's battle to live.
Jon swims daily to keep up his physical and mental wellbeing. 
With Recordings for the Blind and the Library of Congress, he 
remains current in legal issues. We join the salute given him 
at his retirement: ``So Jon, we raise our glasses to you in 
a toast; to wish you not only the best of everything, but also 
the most!''

From New Federalist V6, #42.

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         John Covici
          covici@ccs.covici.com