AMA Rebuffs Grand Jury in Mercy Killing Admission

CHICAGO —  The American Medical Assn. said Tuesday that it would not comply with a grand jury subpoena seeking the name of a doctor whose unsigned admission of mercy killing was published in the AMA’s weekly medical journal.

The Cook County grand jury subpoena, delivered Tuesday, seeks all AMA records concerning the essay “It’s Over, Debbie,” including the author’s cover letter, the original manuscript and any memos discussing the article that was published on Jan. 8.

Kirk Johnson, the AMA general counsel, said journal editor Dr. George Lundberg had invoked the Illinois Reporters Privilege Act and the First Amendment and would not release the information.

The Illinois act provides that someone seeking privileged information must apply to the Circuit Court to set aside the protection, and must prove in a hearing that there is no other available source for the information.

“Because the state’s attorney’s office has not complied with the requirements of this act, we will not comply with the subpoena,” Johnson said in a statement. At the same time, he said: “The AMA strongly condemns the conduct described in the essay.”

An unnamed gynecology resident described being called to tend to a 20-year-old woman dying of ovarian cancer. The woman was in intense pain, had not eaten or slept in two days and weighed 80 pounds. “Let’s get this over with,” the doctor quoted her as saying.

The doctor then described injecting the woman with morphine and watching as she fell asleep, her breathing slowed and she died.

Cook County State’s Atty. Richard M. Daley became involved because the Journal of the American Medical Assn. is published in Chicago, but it is not known where the incident took place.