TO AIR OR NOT TO AIR?

December 3, 1998
		Did CBS' "60 Minutes" make the right decision to air the tape of a doctor-assisted suicide? CBS' Mike Wallace and Ned McGrath, spokesman for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit, answer your questions. Return to this forum's introduction.

How do you think the airing of this segment highlights the negatives or the positives of assisted suicide? Didn't the 60 Minutes segment illuminate the public debate by providing information on what actually occurs in euthanasia? Was it really necessary to air the segment up to the point of the patient's death? Given that Dr. Kevorkian told CBS hat he wanted to get arrested to bring the issue into the open, did CBS not do his bidding? Are you doing enough to promote honest, intelligent, informed discussion of difficult issues among your viewers or members (of your Church)?

Mike C. from New York, NY, asks: Didn't the 60 Minutes segment illuminate the public debate by providing information on what actually occurs in euthanasia? Ned McGrath, spokesman for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit, responds: In regards to the public debate over euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, the 60 Minutes report never mentioned the current status of the issue here in Michigan, where Thomas Youk was injected with lethal drugs by Jack Kevorkian. In July of 1998, state lawmakers debated and passed-- and the governor signed-- a law that makes assisted-death a felony. Subsequent to that legislation's enactment, a proposal that would have legalized physician-assisted suicide was put on the ballot. This past November, Michigan voters said "No" to that proposal by a 71%-to-29% margin. Despite its investigative reputation, 60 Minutes failed to question how an unlicensed pathologist could obtain and administer the lethal drugs he injected into Thomas Youk. 60 Minutes failed to discuss with licensed palliative care doctors the diet and medication protocols that can and should be considered for ALS patients, such as Thomas Youk. 60 Minutes also failed to mention last June's headline-grabbing assisted-death, which involved a New Yorker who, at or near death, had his organs removed by Kevorkian in procedure the local medial examiner later described as "savage butchery." The so-called "public debate" would certainly have been more completely and fairly informed if these facts, and more like them, had been put forth by 60 Minutes. This is especially true when you consider that CBS quickly commissioned its own opinion poll on Jack Kevorkian methodology as portrayed in 60 Minutes televised death of Thomas Youk. Both Mike Wallace and Don Hewitt have, apparently, surmised that the results of the CBS poll support their decision to broadcast the moment of death on national television. Mike Wallace , senior correspondent and co-editor of "60 Minutes", responds: Thanks for understanding that is exactly what we intended.

REGIONS TOPICS RECENT PROGRAMS ABOUT US FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS / FEEDS:

Support the kind of journalism done by the NewsHour...Become a member of your local PBS station.
PBS Online Privacy Policy Copyright ©1996- MacNeil/Lehrer Productions. All Rights Reserved.