Kevorkian Says Man Had Incurable Cancer

The latest person to commit suicide with the help of Dr. Jack Kevorkian suffered from one of the most lethal kinds of cancer, Kevorkian’s lawyer said Tuesday.

Attorney Geoffrey Fieger said Jack Leatherman, 73, of Knoxville, Tenn., had been diagnosed in May with pancreatic cancer - the same disease that killed actor Michael Landon in 1991.

“It’s cure rate is zero,” Fieger said. “No amount of pain relief could control the amount of pain he was suffering. It’s described by some as having a hot poker shoved through your abdomen.”

But pancreatic cancer expert Dr. Frederic Eckhauser of the University of Michigan Medical Center denied that the disease was incurable.