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poll: State doctors oppose assisted-suicide ban
Oin Assisted Suicilde
A recent ISR survey of 336 physicians and
341 other Michigan residents gathered
opinions on physician-assisted suicide.
By MICHELLE LEE THOMPSON
Daily Staff Reporter
A University study may hold the answer
to the unresolved question about the state's
ban on assisted suicide.
A study released yesterday by the Institute
of Social Research (ISR) reports that two-
thirds of the public and more than half of
lichigan physicians favor a plan that would
legalize physician-assisted suicide for termi-
nally ill patients who suffer from extreme
pain.
"Most physicians would prefer not to have
a ban," said Dr. Richard L. Lichtenstein, a co-
investigator in the project. "The purpose of
the study was for us to inform the Legislature
on the attitudes of physicians in Michigan."
The current law, which went into effect in
February 1993, bans assisted suicide without
exception.
"These survey results should be very use-
ful for future legislation or state policy," said
Howard Brody, past chair of the Michigan
Commission on Death and Dying. Brody also
served as consultant to the University survey
project.
Although the issue has spurned contro-
versy in many states, the Michigan ban was
prompted by the actions of Dr. Jack Kevorkian.
His attempts to remove the ban, which in-
cluded fasting, have earned him the nick-
name, "Dr. Death."
Michigan's ban contains a sunset provi-
sion, which means that it will expire in De-
cember. This creates a new problem because
the law's expiration also is being questioned
in court.
"It's not clear how that's going to lay out.
It gets very complicated," said Dr. Jerald G.
Bachman, co-investigator of the survey.
The survey introduces three options for
regulating physician-assisted suicide: a ban,
no law or a compromise called "Plan A."
Plan A would allow physicians to aid in a
patient's suicide if the patient was in unac-
ceptable pain. The plan includes certain safe-
guards, including second opinions, explora-
tion of management alternatives and two wit-
nessed requests by the patient separated by a
one-week waiting period.
Recent proposals of Plan A in California
and Washington both have been rejected by
voters, but the initiative is not on the Novem-
ber ballot in Michigan.
"There's no reason for us to follow Wash-
ington and California in terms of having a
ballot," Lichtenstein said.
Dr. David J. Doukas, another co-investi-
gator of the mail-response survey, said he
thinks Michigan lawmakers will take the
institute's research seriously. State lawmak-
ers are almost evenly split on the assisted-
suicide issue.
See SUICIDE, page 2
Physicians
28%
29%
26% go
[ Definitely [~~
enactI
Plan AI
Probably
enact
Plan A
[~ Uncertain
General Public
40% 22%
2% 9% 3%
27%
d [ Should
bly definitely
keep
ted assisted
le suicide
illegal
JONATHAN BERNDT/Daily
Shout
proba
keep
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illega
j A look at the life of first-year students
U.S.
warns
Haiti police
on abuses
Students bask in the sunshine yesterday on the Diag.
Socializing i N.
pIr ity stud
.Apr w yf
By JOSHUA GINSBERG
Daily Staff Reporter
New students at the University
may be seeking a balance between
work and play, but according to a
first-year student survey, that balance
tips toward recreation instead of edu-
cation.
The Reach Out Program, a phone
survey focusing on the experiences of
first-year students and transfer stu-
nts at the University, began last
year. The survey was given to 33
percent of last year's first-year stu-
dents and 22 percent of last year's
transfer students in October.
Program coordinator Molly
Nicholson organized the survey last
year and will organize the 1994 pro-
gram as well.
"The primary purpose of the pro-
am is to connect with students and
ake their transition to the Univer-
sity as smooth as possible," Nicholson
said. "The secondary purpose of the
program is to gather information about
the experiences of first-year students."
Among the survey's findings:
0 First-year students at the Uni-
versity spend 19.22 hours a week
studying and 21.91 hours socializing.
According to the report, the most com-
mon social activites were hanging out
with friends, going out to dinner and
going to parties.
® More than 50 percent of first-
year students joined a club or organi-
zation within the first month of school.
"The amount of students involved in
organizations was surprising,"
Nicholson said.
First-year LSA student Jacob Gehl
observed that most students he sees
do more socializing than studying.
He agreed with the study in regards to
the number of students in clubs.
"Students like to get involved in
smaller clubs and organizations to
bring the University down to a more
personal level," Gehl noted. "I per-
sonally don't feel that I have enough
time, but some people who don't study
The Washington Post
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -
U.S. commanders warned Haiti's
military leaders yesterday that con-
tinued abuses of pro-American dem-
onstrators will not be tolerated and
drove home the warning with stepped-
up U.S. patrols by machine-gun
mounted vehicles along key roads in
Port-au-Prince.
Tens of thousands of Haitians
again gathered on the waterfront over-
looking the port and near the airport
to watch U.S. troops unload tons of
equipment and the thousands more
soldiers pouring into Haiti as part of
the three-day-old Operation Uphold
Democracy.
The Haitian police, who clubbed
demonstrators in a running series of
violent incidents Tuesday, were barely
visible. They were mostly relegated
to directing traffic.
Officials in Washington scrambled
to respond to televised images of the
attacks. They said U.S. troops could
take a far more aggressive posture in
stemming such violence than they
had only yesterday, when they said
American forces essentially had no
role in halting Haitian-on-Haitian vio-
lence.
A 1,000-man military police unit
was to arrive Wednesday night to
The Clinton administration faces
more problems with the terms of
Carter's agreement with the dicta-
tors in Haiti. Page 7.
Haitian Cities
Atlantic
Ocean
25 miles uave,
Golfe de la
25 km Gonave HAITI
Caribbean Sea. Port-au-Prince
work closely with Haitian police to
avoid repetition of Tuesday's abuses.
The U.S. commander, Lt. Gen. Henry
H. Shelton, called on the top Haitia
military ruler, Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras,
and told him, "The beatings of civil-
ians must stop now," according to
Col. Barry Willey, the U.S. Army
spokesman here. Cedras replied that
he understood, Willey added.
Willey said Shelton also expressed
strong displeasure with "inflamma-
tory" broadcasts on Haitian govern-
ment television and radio against the
presence of U.S. troops. "These are
significant steps inachieving our mis-
sion here," Willey said. "We fully
expect Cedras to comply."
The new resolve came after the
Americans were embarrassed by
Tuesday's beatings hours after the
U.S. military had praised Cedras for
his cooperation in allowing Ameri-
can forces into Haiti and had por-
trayed U.S. forces as working in co-
See HAITI, Page 2
CHRIS WOLF/Daily
The sun beckons in the background as a student rushes through the dark
Law Library.
as much or organize their time more
effectivley can work it out."
Gary Silber, another first-year
LSA student, questioned the report's
precision. "The amount of time spent
studying or partying varies from week
to week. It's impossible to tell from
statistics."
Silber suggested that socializing
may be more important for new stu-
dents because they are trying to adjust
See STUDY, Page 2
Prosecutors
shelf case
against pop
superstar
Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES - Ending
months of speculation, prosecutors
X nounced yesterday they have closed
eir child molestation investigation
of entertainer Michael Jackson, but
said the inquiry uncovered two more
possible victims and stressed authori-
ties are prepared to reopen the case if
any of the children decide they are
willing to testify.
They conceded that the chances of
that appear remote, however, and said
1eir efforts to prosecute Jackson ul-
mately were stymied when the boy
who made the initial complaint against
the singer decided he did not want to
testify.
"We have concluded that because
the young boy who was the catalyst
fr.. Chic in,,ay.tmnn hnc rnrr.ntl ;r
New LGBPO chief asks 'U' to 'walk the walk'
In addition to receiving a new name this year,
the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Programs Office wel-
comes a new director, Ronni Sanlo.
Sanlo comes to the University with 15 years of
political and counseling work to her credit. As the
first choice to fill the vacancy left by Jim Toy - who
retired last spring after 20 years of service - Sanlo
has the task of maintaining the strength of the
oldest lesbian, gay and bisexual student office in
the country. Daily Staff Reporter Kelly Feeney
interviewed Sanlo yesterday afternoon.
Q: What caused you to leave your job as head of
an AIDS surveillance program in Florida and come
to Ann Arbor?
A: This position. When I saw the job advertised
last January, I said to myself, "This is my job!"
And, I knew that everything else, including apply-
ing and interviewing were all formalities because I
knew it was my job. The job description described
me. Had I written a description of the job I wanted
for myself, it was this job in its entirety. I've been
very involved with lesbian, gay and bisexual poli-
tics, civil rights and education for the 15 years that
I've been out.
Q: What is LGBPO's purpose?
A: I think the purpose has changed over time.
At first, our purpose was certainly incredible advo-
cacy in making sure that people were even saying
the words lesbian, gay or bisexual. I think now the
purpose is to institutionalize the concepts of change
that we've tried to create over the 23 years of the
history of the program. Institutionalize, for ex-
ample, making sure that students at this university
receive an excellent education, making sure that
nothing stands in the way of that, including dis-
crimination and bigotry. My focus, and the focus of
this office, is to be sure that lesbian, gay and
bisexual students fall into that category of being
recipients of excellent education without having to
experience the pain of isolation and hatred and all
of the awful, negative things we tend to feel when
we're young, lesbian, gay, bisexual people.
Q: Do you see discrimination against lesbians,
gays and bisexuals as at the University?
A: Of course. Discrimination is probably even
worse now from the perspective that it's very subtle
and covert. It's real easy to deal with concepts of
discrimination when people are out there scream-
ing at us and beating us up, which they still are, but
not to previous extent. In the Ann Arbor area and on
at the university, there are laws and policies prohib-
iting sexual-orientation discrimination, so now the
discrimination becomes much more subtle.
See SANLO, page 2
INSIDE
Jackson
tion in the wake of allegations that he
sexually molested a 13-year-old boy
over a period of several months in
1993.
Jackson faced simultaneous crimi-
nal investigation and civil action be-
cause of those allegations; he settled
the civil case for millions of dollars
earlier this year but only yesterday
saw the criminal case finally come to
a close.
In a statement, Jackson said: "I am
thnnkfl at th invp;- i,;ti;n ha
Defeat a 'wake-up call' for Dems,
may force early adjourmuent
Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON - The defeat of liberal
Rep. Mike Synar (D-Okla.) in a primary con-
test Tuesday served as a "wake-up call" for
group and was regarded
one of the most effecti
members of the House,]
a run-off to Virgil Coop
LOCAL NEWS
The Daily introduces a ne
column on what's new
around college campus.
Today: Looking for the
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