November 8, 1995
Web posted at: 1 p.m. EST
SOUTHFIELD, Michigan (CNN) -- A 58-year-old California woman took her life Wednesday morning with the assistance of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, according to the doctor's lawyer, Geoffrey Fieger.
Fieger said Patricia Cashman of San Marcos, California, the owner of a travel agency, had suffered from metastatic breast cancer for three years and had been counseling with Kevorkian for "a number of months."
According to Fieger, Kevorkian "kept her alive, kept her going," but her pain was so great from the cancer that had spread to her brain and chest that Cashman finally asked Kevorkian to help her end her life.
Cashman came to Michigan with her sister, who also was present when she died, according to Fieger.
Cashman is the 26th person to commit suicide with Kevorkian present since 1990. Assisting in a suicide is illegal in Michigan, but only one case against Kevorkian has ever gone to trial. A Detroit jury acquitted him in May 1994 of violating the state's temporary ban on assisted suicide in the August 1993 death of Thomas Hyde.
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