For the third time in 10 days, Dr. Jack Kevorkian assisted in a suicide, helping a 67-year-old Ohio woman with a painful neurological disease kill herself, his lawyer said Friday.
The death Thursday night was the 31st the retired pathologist has acknowledged attending since 1990 and came just two days after No. 30. Since he was acquitted of assisted suicide charges last month for the third time, Kevorkian has picked up the pace.The body of Bette Lou Hamilton, 67, of Columbus, Ohio, was taken to Pontiac Osteopathic Hospital late Thursday by a friend, lawyer Geoffrey Fieger said. Hamilton was a divorcee with no living relatives, The Oakland Press said.
She had a progressive neurological disease called syringomyelia, said Fieger, who told The Detroit News that the woman died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Symptoms of the rare disease, which afflicted golfing great Bobby Jones, include weakness and muscle atrophy, said Dr. Robert Aranosian. He called it a "progressive wasting disease where nerve tissue is slowly destroyed."
Fieger said it is one of the most painful diseases. But Aranosian said that depends on the patient. "I don't believe constant pain is one of the symptoms," Aranosian said.
Hamilton had been consulting with Kevorkian for seven months, Fieger said.
Pontiac police were investigating, Lt. William Webster said.