Few figures were more controversial in the 1990’s than assisted-suicide proponent Dr. Jack Kevorkian, who was sentenced in a Michigan court to 10 ? 25 years in state prison in 1999 on a second degree murder charge following the 1998 death of Thomas Youk.
While Kevorkian sits in his jail cell in Coldwater, Michigan, his friend Neal Nicol, of Springfield Township, hopes a soon to be released biography he co-authored may help free Kevorkian, who is eligible for parole in 2007.
The 269 page ‘Between the Dying and the Dead,? released in the United Kingdom on May 25, will be available in the United States in July.
‘Between the dying and the dead? is the realization in a person’s mind that they are going to die. That could be life flashing before your eyes before you hit a tree or it could be a doctor giving you a diagnosis that you have (a disease) and that you’re going to die but it’s going to be two years, five years, ten years down the road,? said Nicol. ‘That’s what we’re talking about between the dying and the dead. That period of time when you’re forced to take a look at your death, whether you want to or not and how you handle that, and should you be allowed a decision to maybe not go the full route.?
Kevorkian’s friends Nicol and Harry Wylie, an engineer who currently lives outside the United States, worked together on the book for approximately three years. Wylie compiled the information and interviewed people who knew Kevorkian, while Nicol provided his first person accounts of many of Kevorkian’s controversial procedures.
Long before the assisted-suicide debate took the country by storm, Nicol met Kevorkian while working as the blood bank technician at Pontiac General Hospital in the early 1960’s. Throughout their friendship, Nicol was involved with other procedures and research conducted by Kevorkian and detailed in the book, including a project of transfusing blood from a cadaver directly into Nicol. One particular blood transfusion run as a control group for the cadaver research caused Nicol, Kevorkian and a third volunteer to contract Hepatitis from blood bank blood. Nicol was laid up for six months dealing with the illness.
Despite a long break of about 15 years where they did not see each other, Nicol and Kevorkian met up again in 1991. Shortly afterwards, following the death of Kevorkian’s sister Margo, Nicol was responsible for much of the videotaping consultations, clerical work and contact for Kevorkian’s patients giving him first person insight on Kevorkian’s procedures and court battles to follow.
‘Jack has asked me like a dozen times to write a book about physician-assisted suicide.? said Nicol, who rejected the suggestion for several years until a fellow friend of Kevorkian, Wylie, volunteered to write the book.
‘He wanted someone I think to give their opinion of physician-assisted suicide other than his own, and I just didn’t really feel adequate. I didn’t feel I was organized enough to do that. I had never done any writing,? said Nicol.
Nicol explained there were other reasons besides Wylie joining the project that convinced him to finally put out the book. Nicol explained both he and Wylie hope the book will stir up enough controversy and bring attention to Kevorkian.
‘One of the other things that’s changed is the fact he’s wasting his life in prison and we hope that shining a light on the fact that he’s been locked up now for seven years is plenty enough punishment and it would hopefully get a ground fall of support to get him out.?
‘If nothing else I think it’ll make people sit down and think. ‘Maybe I oughta address that situation that yes I’m going to die someday and yes I should make those decisions to get those advanced directives and make sure my wife has the right to tell a doctor, ‘No we’re not doing that and this is why we’re not doing it. And I don’t want to be like Terri Schiavo sitting in a coma for 14 years when her husband tried to help her out and they wouldn’t allow it,?? said Nicol.
While much has been written in newspapers and books, Nicol said his firsthand accounts provide a different look at man who was often referred to ‘Doctor Death.?
‘No one who has written a book had the insight we had. We knew him personally, we dealt with him on a personal level,? said Nicol.
‘He’s not macabre at all. He has many, many talents, is very light-hearted and self-deprecating,? said Nicol.
‘I think most people, through the media, have been given an impression of Jack that really isn’t true. And we wanted to make people know him as we knew him. And once they did, they’d realize he’s a very warm individual with an awful lot of intelligence and a willingness to share.?
According to Nicol, the first title, selected from approximately 10 proposed by Kevorkian and several of his acquaintances was ‘You Don’t Know Jack.? The title of the book had to be changed, however, because it would not have meant the same thing to readers in the United Kingdom.
‘When it got to England, (the press company) took a look at it and said ‘That doesn’t have the meaning for the English people that it has for the Americans,? recalled Nicol.
In addition to the book, Nicol said the movie rights are already sold to producer Steve Jones who is in the process of submitting the written screenplay to studios. The original title may be used in the movie, according to Nicol.
As time moves on, Nicol foresees the acceptance of assisted-suicide coming along with a better recognition of Kevorkian as a hero.
‘He’s a hero because people want that option at the end of life,? said Nicol, who explained that he thinks most people who have experience with long terminal illness or have watched loved ones suffer are in favor of assisted suicide.
Currently, Nicol talks to Kevorkian two or three times a month and visited him once at the Lakeland Correctional Facility in Coldwater. According to Nicol, he used to visit Kevorkian about five times a month, but the process leading up to having guests includes two strip searches and Kevorkian tires of the process resulting in the lower number of trips.
Nicol lives with his wife Patricia Pund Nicol and step daughter in Springfield Township. Nicol left Pontiac General Hospital for laboratory sales from 1964-81 for a distributor. In 1981, he started his own business in laboratory sales which he retired from in 2002. The company is now run by his wife.