The creator of a suicide device who gained national attention when he used it to help an Alzheimer's disease patient end her own life said Saturday that he may defy a court ban and help others die.
"If a person is beyond hope, what do I care about any court injunction?" Dr. Jack Kevorkian said in a telephone interview from his Royal Oak apartment, about 15 miles north of Detroit. "If a patient is really needing it, I may have to act. If nothing else, out of human compassion."His statement Saturday appears to reverse what he has maintained since the injunction June 8 when he said, "I'm out of business."
He said he's talked with two Michigan women who want to die - one he described only as "crippled"; the other has an extreme case of emphysema.
Kevorkian said he has checked with their doctors on the diagnoses, and he has met with the family of one of the women.
He had met with the family of Janet Adkins before deciding to use his device in his van at a county park on June 4. The machine and his 1968 Volkswagen van were confiscated after Adkins, 54, of Portland, Ore., pressed a button that released lethal chemicals into her system.
Kevorkian said it would take a few days to build another device if he decided to use it.
"I wouldn't do it just to get arrested. It would be to help a patient," Kevorkian said.
Kevorkian was in Oakland County Circuit Court on Friday to respond to a temporary injunction issued after Adkins' death.
Judge Alice Gilbert had ordered him to stop using the device and also enjoined the 62-year-old retired pathologist from helping people use any other means to kill themselves.
Kevorkian didn't answer the injunction, and Assistant County Prosecutor Michael Modelski said default papers were filed Friday. Instead of ruling on a permanent injunction, Gilbert gave Kevorkian 21 days to answer the default ruling.
Modelski said Saturday that Kevorkian could be in contempt of court if he uses the machine.
"He basically is saying that he's above anybody's rules, and that's the problem," Modelski said. "It could trigger a possible second criminal investigation if he uses it again."
He said that after the current investigation, if no criminal charges are filed, "we're going to have people flying in from all over to use this machine."
Michigan has no specific law against suicide or assisting in it. The case is under investigation by the county prosecutor, state police and state medical association.
Gilbert suggested to Kevorkian that he get a lawyer, but Kevorkian said he has no intentions of doing that because he said he hasn't broken any laws.
"They're just trying everything to stop me," Kevorkian said. "I dare them to bring charges. Do something. Throw me in jail if you can."