Kevorkian never shy in assisted-suicide crusade

Kevorkian never shy in assisted-suicide crusade
Not even nearly a decade of incarceration changed position of man called "Dr. Death" on physician-assisted suicide
 Jack Kevorkian addresses a luncheon at the National Press Club July 29, 1996, in Washington. (AFP/Getty Images)

(CBS News) The death early Friday morning of Jack Kevorkian, the man stripped of his medical license in his pursuit of legalizing physician-assisted suicide, shined the spotlight once again on the ways he attracted attention, some of which were broadcast on CBS' "60 Minutes."


After serving eight-and-a-half years in a Michigan prison for ending the life of a terminally ill man, Kevorkian sat down with "60 Minutes" correspondent Mike Wallace in 2007. Kevorkian gave CBS in 1998 a videotape of him ending the life of Tom Youk, a man suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease.


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Kevorkian wanted to force prosecutors to charge him because he believed that by winning in court he could make euthanasia legal -- that is, death by doctor at the request of a terminally ill patient, Wallace reported in 2007. But Kevorkian didn't get the verdict he had expected.


After Wallace picked Kevorkian up from prison, the man called "Dr. Death" said being incarcerated didn't change his mind about helping Youk die.


"Why would I regret that?" Kevorkian asked Wallace. "That's like asking a veterinarian, 'Do you regret helping that person's animal?'continue:http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/06/03/national/main20068683.shtml