Kevorkian: -- ask you to breathe in normally, and the gas will put you to
sleep. And so it's much more pleasant.
Neal: Plus it's a more economical use of the gas, because it stays inside the
tent.
Kevorkian: Yeah, because you don't want that person that's going out going
out hard --
Neal: No, no. We'll let you know, we'll work on it in the next couple of
days and devise this tent; we'll call you and we'll get together for the final
session.
CG: Now the lady that you told me about on the phone --
(simultaneous conversation)
HG: Well can't we make this the final session?
CG: -- Ohio --
Kevorkian: Yeah.
HG: What do you mean the final session? When you go into to --
Kevorkian: The final session will be when we do the procedure.
Kevorkian's sister [camera operator]: When you sign the final consent.
Kevorkian: Yeah, when you sign the final consent.
HG: Because I want to take my life.
Kevorkian: I know that.
HG: You know that.
Kevorkian: And you were kind of geared up tonight.
HG: Yeah.
Kevorkian: -- we really feel bad about that. Because you were already geared
up for it --
HG: Yeah.
Kevorkian: And ordinarily there wouldn't have been a problem.
HG: Yeah.
Kevorkian: They threw this curve at us today. It's all right; it's not
important --
CG: Well the thing is, I would want to offer my home. But the problem is my
mother.
Kevorkian: Absolutely.
CG: And I've thought about it and thought about it and --
Kevorkian: You've got to do what's best for you.
Neal: You do what makes you comfortable and then you just --
CG: I myself would be comfortable with it.
Kevorkian: Yeah. What's best for your family is what counts, that's all.
HG: -- find somebody --
Kevorkian: We'll keep asking. There are several, there isn't just one ...
(inaudible) they're waiting out of state. We found one recently, we were
lucky, up North. The person said "Yes, have her come up." So that was fine.
Kevorkian's sister: Do you know what? They became the fastest of friends.
Kevorkian: Yeah. The families hit it off perfectly. They had a party that
night, you know?
Kevorkian's sister: It was incredible.
HG: Yeah, I would have loved to have that myself.
Kevorkian: You meet nice people that way.
Neal: Well you have a common bond. You're about to lose a loved one,
you're about to lose a loved one. They sent out for dinner and had a party the
night before; stayed up late and talked about their lives and their attitudes
about death and everything. When I got there the next morning you wouldn't
have known that they all didn't live at the same house. They were just great
friends.
Kevorkian's sister: And they called them up to go boating and fishing and --
Kevorkian: Yes. The two sons hit it off and they were going to come up and
visit them up North and everything. And they were holding hands on the --
HG: That's the way I think that it should be.
Kevorkian: Sure, sure.
Kevorkian's sister: They were great people on both sides.
Kevorkian: Well, we'll let it go at that then. I'll let you know when we've
got it worked out, the tent, and we'll have a final discussion where Mr. Gale
can sign the final consent. And we'll follow immediately after that.
HG: Please make it as soon as possible.
Kevorkian: Oh yeah, we won't waste any time on that. We'll have the final
consent signing and we'll go ahead with the procedure.
HG: Yeah.
Neal: We realize the mental, emotional hardship that this puts you
under, but there is not an awful lot we can do Mr. Gale.
HG: Yeah, you could. But see, I told my grandmother I was coming see?
Neal: Did you? She'll be mad at us if you don't show up then won't she?
Kevorkian: Well look they've got time to wait up there.
(laughter)
Kevorkian: Yeah, they aren't in any hurry up there. But keep your spirits up
because you're not abandoned.
HG: That's...(inaudible)--
CG: I know, he's going through this "I need to go now", and then it will be
OK for a little while. But he's had some good days.
Kevorkian: Good, keep enjoying every minute you can, and that's the best you
can do.
Kevorkian's sister: I guess this is the last videotaping session though?
Kevorkian: Well yeah. We won't have the videotape. Next time we get
together you will sign the consent and we will go right in.
Kevorkian's sister: -- just sign the consent.
CG: Oh, that's good, that's good.
Kevorkian's sister: That's it. It will be just the consent and then --
Kevorkian: That's a good point; this is the last interview.
HG: Well I'm glad to hear that, yes.
Kevorkian: OK. I think that there is not much else, any questions you have?
Any questions at all?
HG: No, I don't think so. I think we've got everything right here --
Kevorkian: Remember, relax and enjoy the time you have left because that's
important. Every minute you can enjoy, enjoy it.
HG: I'll tell you, there is not joy, not any joy in life.
Kevorkian: I know that, I know that.
HG: So --
Kevorkian: We're going to try to devise this tent over the weekend. There
may be a patient who needs help, it's a cancer patient who is in really, really
bad shape. I don't know if we'll have the tent in time to help that patient on
Monday or not. So if you hear about it, don't worry; that way we'll know the
tent works anyhow. And then we'll contact you as soon after that as we can.
CG: I just can't believe that they're stopping you right now.
Kevorkian: Oh yeah, yeah.
CG: And if ... (inaudible) there is nothing we can do about it
Neal: Well this is the third time that they've done it. And it's not
that they called them up and said they were breaking the law, they just called
them up and said they wished they wouldn't sell to us. And who's going to
argue with the police?
CG: -- well they were probably publicize it, right?
Neal: Well we're going to try, we're going to publicize it anyway.
Kevorkian: We're going to publicize the fact that they don't care about suffering
humans.
HG: Well that's good. I'm --
Kevorkian: We're going to have that ... (inaudible)
Neal: We'll play the other side of the
coin.
Kevorkian: In the long run they're going to end up losing. Because when this
is accepted, they're going to look like wimps, they're going to look like
weaklings who caved in. So that isn't going to be nice either.
HG: When are you going to make that public?
Kevorkian: We're going to try to --
Neal: -- we're going to talk to the lawyer tomorrow about it and see if he
can make an announcement in the press about the company refusing to sell gas.
Kevorkian: They do everything illegally. They illegally suspended my medical
license thinking that's the way to stop me too. And they'll try anything to
stop us, no matter how illegal it is.
Neal: I told Jack on the way over here, really I just feel like I'm
challenged now to see how resourceful I can be.
If I'm not smarter than the police departments, then I don't
deserve to be in this business anyway.
Kevorkian: Exactly. And I think the tent will be a solution --
HG: Are you a lawyer?
Neal: No.
Kevorkian: He looks like a lawyer.
Neal: No, I'm in medical technology.
Kevorkian: He looks like a lawyer.
CG: Yes, he does.
Neal: I'm a medical technologist.
CG: You know what irritates me too is the press that you get, the media, the
way they portray you, I want to go around and tell everybody about the
doctor/patient relationship and they make you sound so hard and --
Kevorkian: Yes.
CG: And Dr. Death and --
Neal: Well we've had people write letters to Congress. We've had
people, one of the ladies wrote a letter which was read over television, Marci
did, Marci Lawrence did, saying "I just hope that you're never caught in this
situation where a loved one of yours has to suffer." They don't report that.
What they report is the negative part.
CG: -- when they write a letter to that, he had the column on the editorial
page today, I think he's a minister?
Kevorkian: Yes, yes.
CG: And he had written something nice about you, which shocked me, coming
from a man of the cloth. I was going to get in touch with him after this is
over and say "Listen, I want to tell you what Dr. Kevorkian is really like."
Kevorkian: Well that would help.
(simultaneous conversation)
Kevorkian's sister: That's why there have been no complaints.
Kevorkian: Yeah.
Kevorkian's sister: But they ignore that because it isn't to their financial benefit.
Kevorkian: Well see, they're on the side of the authority that's why, the
press is, all of the press is. They'll only publish what is negative. They
don't want to help us --
Neal: -- positive.
(simultaneous conversation)
Kevorkian: -- say they're against it.
Neal: Positive doesn't sell papers, negative
sells paper.
CG: Yeah.
Kevorkian: It isn't only that it doesn't sell papers, they don't like what
we're doing. They're in with the authorities who oppose this; they oppose it
too. The editors oppose it.
Kevorkian's sister: Jack, should we --
Kevorkian: Yeah. Then we'll let you know as soon as it's available and it
will be only several days and then we'll contact you right away. What time is
it Neal?
Neal: 7:55.
Kevorkian: 7:55, so this session is closed on February 11, 1993.
END OF TAPE
FRONTLINE / WGBH Educational Foundation
