ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, March 10, 1997 TAG: 9703100047
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: ROMULUS, MICH.
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEMO: NOTE: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.
Dr. Jack Kevorkian's lawyer, Geoffrey Fieger, is representing the family of a Richmond, Va., woman who Fieger says committed suicide to end her arthritis pain. But Fieger isn't saying whether Kevorkian was involved in the death.
Police were investigating the death, which was reported Thursday night at the Hilton Hotel in Romulus, west of Detroit. A police statement also made no reference to Kevorkian, who has acknowledged being present at 45 deaths since 1990.
Fieger on Friday identified the woman as Helen Livengood, 59.
Livengood was flown to Michigan aboard a charter airplane from Richmond.
Fieger said Livengood ``ended her own life peaceably after years of tortured suffering from crippling arthritis which had left her confined to a wheelchair for the last four years.''
Fieger said Livengood weighed only 50 pounds and suffered from chronic arthritis.
``There's nothing suspicious about her death,'' he said. ``Mrs. Livengood was a Christian who felt very strongly that she had the same rights to choose as Jesus.''
A man who answered the door at the Livengood home said he did not want to speak with reporters.
``I've been through enough already,'' said the man, who declined to identify himself.
LENGTH: Short : 39 lines KEYWORDS: FATALTIYby CNB