Jack Kevorkian, a man accused of second-degree murder that
spent eight years in prison, announced at a news conference Monday, March 24,
he wants to run in the November election as an independent for a congressional
seat representing Detroit’s
suburbs.
In 1998, he helped Thomas Youk, 52, of Waterford Township,
a man with Lou Gehring’s disease to die through assisted-suicide. His nickname
was “Dr. Death” and he said he was the advocate of assisted-suicide because he
felt it was his right, according to Associated Press.
That year, he showed a video of himself assisting in Thomas
Youk’s suicide on CBS’s “60 Minutes.”
Kevorkian, 79, will challenge a Republican, Joe Knollenberg.
With 3,000 signatures, he may run in the November elections.
He will try to promote the Ninth Amendment, which protects
rights that are less known because they are not clearly specified elsewhere in
the U.S. Constitution. He pleads for defending one’s right to die through
assisted suicide if one’s health is in critical condition.
“These are natural rights,” he said. “You can’t create
rights by law. Every law is an infraction of liberty. I’m fighting for my
rights. If you get yours in the process, fine,” the Royal Oak Daily Tribune reports.
Kevorkian fights against a “tyrannical” government, which
gives rules that people are forced to obey and against the U.S. Supreme Court,
which are characterized as “liars.” During a period of 8 years he had helped
numerous people to die, he claims.
Regarding his health, Kevorkian said he is dealing with
Hepatitis C, temporal arthritis and high-blood pressure.