Dr. Kevorkian is in Detroit this morning. His attorney, Geoffrey Fieger, is in Kalamazoo.

Gentlemen, good morning to you.

Mr. GEOFFREY FIEGER (Kevorkian's Attorney): Good morning, Matt.

Dr. JACK KEVORKIAN (Helped 100 People Commit Suicide): Good morning.

LAUER: Dr. Kevorkian, let's talk about this milestone. I'm sure your critics would call it a dubious achievement, 100 assisted suicides. Does the event hold any significance for you?

Dr. KEVORKIAN: First, let me comment about that Missouri bill. You have no right bargaining to get organs from condemned men. If you execute men who want to donate freely and don't take their organs, do that first, and then start the bargaining about other men on death row. The many men on death row are willing to donate organs when they are executed. But doctors like Lowell, the transplant surgeons, are the ones blocking it. They will not take such organs, and so you're having many patients die.

LAUER: But you don't think inmates should be given the bargain, life for an organ?

Dr. KEVORKIAN: Not--well that's bargaining. Why--why wouldn't you take one that's willingly donated when he's going to die? He has nothing to gain. That's--that's nonsensical. Do that first and then start bargaining.

LAUER: Let's go back to this milestone, 100 assisted suicides, does it hold significance for you?

Dr. KEVORKIAN: No. It's a nice round number. That's the only significance.

LAUER: It appears the state of Michigan is--is one step closer to putting you out of business, in their words. They're about to pass a law that would make assisted suicide illegal. Have they boxed you in?

Dr. KEVORKIAN: No. No, they've boxed themselves in.

LAUER: What do you mean by that?

Dr. KEVORKIAN: Well, they have no idea what's in store for them by pass--I welcomed that law and I was saddened that they didn't put it into effect immediately. I wish they would move it immediately.

LAUER: It's my understanding that the law could go into effect sometime in 1999. So you're saying if they--if this law does go into effect and assisted suicide is illegal, you will continue the procedure, even if it means you go to prison?

Dr. KEVORKIAN: I've said right away, you pass a law which will be immoral on the face of it, in a civilized--any civilized society, such a law would be immoral, period. You pass a law, I will break it the next day.

LAUER: But then...

Dr. KEVORKIAN: I've said that publicly.

LAUER: ...but then you will probably go to prison. What will your reaction to that be?

Dr. KEVORKIAN: All that--no. No, I will go to what they call a court. Only they call it a court.

LAUER: Well, but in the past...

Dr. KEVORKIAN: That's a political action. That's not a court action.

LAUER: ...in the past you've been successful in staying out of prison because you've always said there was no assisted suicide law making it illegal in Michigan. If they pass that law, what will keep you out of prison?

Mr. FIEGER: Wait a second. Wait a...

Dr. KEVORKIAN: Maybe I won't stay out of prison. Who knows?

Mr. FIEGER: ...wait a second, Doc.

Dr. KEVORKIAN: What's the difference? Mandela didn't stay out of prison, neither did Martin Luther King! What's the difference? Were they wrong?

Mr. FIEGER: They've passed...

Dr. KEVORKIAN: Society was wrong.

Mr. FIEGER: ...they've passed these laws, Matt. There were laws. And, in fact, five juries acquitted Jack, not three, as Anne Thompson reported earlier. And they're no less likely to get 12 people to convict him now as they were last year...

LAUER: But I understand...

Mr. FIEGER: ...or the year before or the year before.

LAUER: I--I understand the wording of previous laws has been somewhat vague, and that has been the basis for your defense, Mr. Fieger. Do you think you'd have...

Mr. FIEGER: No, that's not...

LAUER: ...would you have any trouble defending Dr. Kevorkian if this particular law were passed?

Mr. FIEGER: No. That--those are the words of these religious politicians. They always make excuses as if we won on a technicality. We won because it's right. The people of this state and this country are not going to give up their right to control their lives to government. We're--these are people who claim to be conservatives, and yet continually pass laws in which government crawls into their sickbeds and tells them how much suffering they have to undergo before they die.

LAUER: Dr. Kevorkian, you've mentioned in the past that if you are sent to prison you might go on a hunger strike. Is that still a threat you plan to carry out, if you go to jail?

Dr. KEVORKIAN: Absolutely. Listen, when you take my liberty away, you've taken away more--something more precious than life. I mean, what good is a life without liberty? Huh? None. You remember those words of Patrick Henry? We learn them, and to me they're just--they're just words, until you get into a situation where you're going to lose your liberty. Then you see how valuable liberty is. First of all, in a civilized society, this could never be a crime. You may pass a law that says it is, but it can't be a crime.

LAUER: You recently assisted a 21-year-old quadriplegic in ending his life. Your critics say this man was not terminally ill, that you're conditioning people to view death as the logical alternative to living with a disability. How do you respond to that?

Dr. KEVORKIAN: Unconditioning people to be in a position to exercise their right, their freedom to choose when the situation warrants it.

LAUER: Anybody...

Dr. KEVORKIAN: You work with doctors and families, and medical colleagues, and--and all the people involved in it without government or religious intrusion.

LAUER: Was the 21-year-old terminally ill, Doctor?

Dr. KEVORKIAN: No.

LAUER: Was he in great pain?

Dr. KEVORKIAN: Yes.

LAUER: He was...

Mr. FIEGER: Matt, anybody who knew Roosevelt Dawson, I knew him very, very well, and I fought for months to get him out of that hospital that suddenly tried to declare him mentally incompetent when he chose to see Dr. Kevorkian. They offered him the right to be suffocated. You understand? He was on a ventilator. Had the right to remove the ventilator and be suffocated. He was a pre-med student. He said, That's nonsense. I'm not going to be suffocated. I want to go home, be with my family, and be with Dr. Kevorkian.' Now you tell me in America, we're quibbling between suffocating a patient and Roosevelt's right to choose another form of ending his suffering peaceably? That's nonsense.

LAUER: Dr. Kevorkian, you spent a lot of time with these patients before you decide whether you'll agree to help them. What's the most important question you ask them during that time?

Dr. KEVORKIAN: Are you sure you want to do this?

LAUER: Do you ever have people who waver?

Dr. KEVORKIAN: Never. They get angry at me if you ask the question. If you repeat that question three times during these sessions, no matter how many sessions, they--several patients have sworn--have sworn at me, cussed at me. They've used profanity, because they're angry at the delay. Not one has shown an iota of fear of death. They want to end this agony.

LAUER: What's the most important question or often-asked question of you during those meetings?

Dr. KEVORKIAN: When can you start? None of them want to delay. Understand that. None of them.

LAUER: When you--when you look back at these 100 cases that you have assisted in, do you ever--have you ever had even one second thought about one of the people you've assisted to end their life?

Dr. KEVORKIAN: To end their suffering? No. Never a second thought. Like I wouldn't do with a cat or dog suffering. I have no second thoughts.

Mr. FIEGER: And not one--and not one family member has had any second thoughts that were intimately involved. Not one. All these critics are people who never knew the patients or their families.

LAUER: Geoffrey Fieger, Dr. Jack Kevorkian. Gentlemen, thank you very much.

Mr. FIEGER: Thanks, Matt.

Dr. KEVORKIAN: You're welcome.

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