In this Dec. 3, 1990 file photo, Dr. Jack Kevorkian sits in his lawyer’s office in Southfield, Mich., after Oakland County Prosecutor Richard Thompson announced that he would be charged with murder in the death of a woman who committed suicide by using a device of the doctor’s. Kevorkian’s lawyer and friend, Mayer Morganroth, says the assisted suicide advocate died Friday, June 3, 2011 at a Detroit-area hospital at the age of 83. (AP Photo, File)DETROIT – Jack Kevorkian, the retired pathologist who captured the world’s attention as he helped dozens of ailing people commit suicide, igniting intense debate and ending up in prison for murder, has died in a Detroit area hospital after a short illness. He was 83.
Kevorkian, who said he helped some 130 people end their lives from 1990 to 1999, died about 2:30 a.m. at William Beaumont Hospital in Michigan, close friend and prominent attorney Mayer Morganroth said.
He had been hospitalized since last month with pneumonia and kidney problems, Morganroth said.
An official cause of death had not been determined, but Morganroth said it likely will be pulmonary thrombosis.
“I had seen him earlier and he was conscious,” said Morganroth, who added that the two spoke about Kevorkian’s pending release from the hospital and planned start of rehabilitation. “Then I left and he took a turn for the worst and I went back.”