Kevorkian Foe Wants Law Repealed Man Whose Mother Killed Herself Fears 1994 Oregon Law Will Encourage Others

Opponents of Oregon’s doctor-assisted suicide law tried to swing last-minute votes for repeal Monday with help from a son of the first person who killed herself with Dr. Jack Kevorkian’s assistance.

Neil Adkins said he disagreed with his mother’s decision and felt Oregon’s law should be repealed because it would encourage other people to commit suicide.

“I believe if you give people an easy exit they will use it,” said Adkins, a Redmond, Wash., businessman.

Adkins’ comments came as Oregonians continued to cast ballots on Measure 51, which would repeal the nation’s only law allowing doctors to prescribe life-ending drugs to terminally ill patients.

The issue is being decided in a vote-by-mail election. Ballots were sent to voters three weeks ago, and must be returned to local election offices by the close of business today, when they will be tallied.

The 1994 law allows a doctor to prescribe suicide pills to anyone with less than six months to live who requests life-ending drugs.

It has never taken effect because of legal challenges, and even if it survives the repeal election it likely will remain tied up by lawsuits for months or longer.

The U.S. Supreme Court decided last month not to hear a challenge to Oregon’s law, but did so largely on technical grounds.

Adkins said his mother, Janet, a Portland resident who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, decided to go to Michigan in 1990 to get help from Kevorkian because she didn’t want to die a lingering death.

But he noted that he and his mother played tennis only weeks before her death, and while she had difficulty keeping score, she won the game.

“I’m angry that she did what she did,” he said. “She knew that I didn’t want her to kill herself.”

Since her death, Kevorkian has helped more than 70 people end their lives in Michigan.

Despite appeals such as Adkins’, and a multimillion-dollar campaign by Catholic organizations and others opposed to assisted suicide, a poll conducted for KPTV television in Portland found a majority of people were against the repeal.

The Bardsley & Neidhart Inc. survey of 400 registered voters, conducted Oct. 23-26, found that 58 percent opposed Measure 51 and 38 percent supported it. Four percent were undecided.