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The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation presented the institution with a petition containing 5,000 signatures asking it to rescind its invitation to Dr. Kevorkian. The foundation was formed after Florida authorities allowed the woman, whose name it bears, to die of starvation and thirst at the behest of her husband, Michael Schiavo.
In response, UF President J. Bernard Machen wrote to the woman's brother, Bobby Schindler, who heads the foundation, "As an institution of higher education, we value the free expression of ideas and the educational opportunities that arise from such communication."
The UF Pro-Life Alliance, a student-led organization that helps women who have unexpectedly become pregnant, also protested the university's decision to allow Dr. Kevorkian to speak.
"Our group opposes this speech because the university is paying an exorbitant amount of money to a man who has been convicted of murder," said group leader Katherine Schinn. "Another concern is to promote assisted suicide in general."....................................
Suicide Doc Raps Bush, Judiciary In University Of Florida Appearance
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Walk Me to Midnight by Jane St. Clair is a new pro-life novel from Capstone Fiction. It is a chilling medical thriller guaranteed to keep you up reading all nightlong until you reach the horrifying conclusion. Available January 1, 2008 from Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
Q. How did you come to write Walk Me to Midnight?
First, I was with my mother, sister and father during their long deaths by cancer. I was with them when they died. They were very vulnerable, but the hospice nurses knew what to do and how to help us. That's why I dedicated Walk Me to Midnight to hospice nurses.
Second, I was doing a lot of crime writing and became very interested in forensic science. I wrote two Law and Order television scripts and one CSI that placed high in national contests. I wanted to do a pro-life thriller.
Third, I believe that the assisted suicide movement is misdirected. I want to help the hospice movement.
Q.Do you think a terminally ill person should have the right to commit suicide?
Anyone can commit suicide at any time so getting assisted suicide laws passed is not about anyone's personal right to do anything. Committing suicide may be against the law, but after you're dead, you can't be prosecuted or punished.
People who want to commit suicide can do it themselves. The idea that they are so sick that they can't fire a gun or take some drugs is just untrue. Usually if you have a terminal illness, you know how long you left to live. You have ample time to commit suicide. If you are too sick to swallow, you don't have that long to live anyway.
~Snip~
Q. Why are you against laws that allow doctors to prescribe lethal doses to terminally ill people?
An old saying in law is that bad cases make bad law. When a situation is too complex, there is no way to write a good law that covers every situation. There are too many variables. Assisted suicide is like that. Do you treat a 21-year-old the same as a 95-year-old? How do you determine competence in someone all drugged up? How do you determine Terri Schiavo's desires when she left no written instructions?
Also, the Netherlands experience teaches us that even if you have two doctors to supervise each patient's "suicide," there is plenty of room for corruption. Insurance companies and often the person's relatives have personal stakes in having that person die quickly. It saves them money, allows them to inherit quicker, or allows them relief from the burden of the person's care. Often these are unconscious motives. Studies have shown that when there are assisted suicide laws, dying people feel obligated to end their lives prematurely. When given a choice, most people want to live as long as possible.........................
An Interview with the author of Walk Me to Midnight
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