Kevorkian: High Court ‘Irrelevant’

PONTIAC, Mich. — Jack Kevorkian has no desire to be present when the “kooks” on the U.S. Supreme Court take up the issue of doctor-assisted suicide.

“Nothing good can come of this,” he said. “Did anything good come out of [the abortion case of] Roe vs. Wade? You got some doctors killed. What the Supreme Court does is irrelevant.”

Although Kevorkian has come to symbolize the assisted-suicide issue, he is not involved in either case and has no desire to get a personal look at the proceedings.

In an interview published Sunday in the Oakland (Mich.) Press, the retired pathologist readily acknowledges that the Constitution may not cover doctor-assisted suicides but says that isn’t the point.

“There is no such thing as any new right involved,” he said. “Patient autonomy allows him to ask for anything he wants. . . . Before going for a heart transplant, does the doctor have to go to the Supreme Court to get the OK?”