For the second time in about a week, Dr. Jack Kevorkian assisted in a suicide, attending the death of a 58-year-old Virginia woman who had a malignant brain tumor, one of his lawyers said.
It was the 30th assisted suicide the retired pathologist has acknowledged attending since 1990.Kevorkian lawyer Michael Schwartz identified the woman as Lona Jones of Chester, Va.
Jones' husband took the body in a wheelchair to North Oakland Medical Center in Pontiac just before midnight Tuesday, said hospital spokeswoman Choli Natavio. The husband, Ralph Jones, was also present when the woman died, said Schwartz, who refused to say where or how she died.
"I can only say that (Kevorkian) was present when she ended her suffering," Schwartz said. "She had recurrent and repetitive uncontrollable seizures. She was in terrible pain."
Jones' body had high levels of carbon monoxide, radio station WWJ-AM reported. Most of those to die in Kevorkian's presence have inhaled the gas.
Kevorkian, reached by telephone at his home, declined comment.
Jones' death bore many similarities to that of Ruth Neuman, a 69-year-old stroke-ridden widow who checked herself out of a nursing home in New Jersey to seek Kevorkian's help.
Neuman's body was brought early June 11 to the same hospital by her son, Jeff Neuman. Authorities said she died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Kevorkian acknowl-edged counseling Neuman before attending her death but refused to say exactly when or where she died.
Hospital officials performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Jones but were unable to revive her, Natavio said. An autopsy was planned, she said.
Jones had consulted with Ke-vor-kian on the telephone and by mail before traveling to Michigan, Schwartz said. He was unsure how long their relationship had lasted.
Schwartz said Jones had undergone extensive treatment for the brain tumor. "She was going to die of that," he said.
Pontiac police said they were investigating the death.
In May, the 68-year-old retired pathologist escaped conviction on assisted suicide charges for the third time in three trials.
In his first two trials, Kevorkian was charged under a temporary law the Michigan Legislature targeted at him. But in the last case, the charges were based on a 1994 Michigan Supreme Court ruling that said assisted suicide was a felony under the common law - the traditions and legal precedents dating to old England.