Jack Kevorkian Hospitalized

Assisted suicide advocate Dr. Jack Kevorkian of Royal Oak is hospitalized with pneumonia, kidney problems and some other undisclosed ailments, according to his attorney.

Kevorkian, whose 83^rd birthday is next week, was rushed to last night, attorney and longtime friend Mayer Morganroth told The Detroit News today.

"He was in there a couple of weeks ago for four days," Morganroth told The News. "He had a relapse and was feeling weak."

Kevorkian first made headlines for his right-to-die stand in 1990 when he assisted in the death of Janet Adkins, a 54-year-old Portland, OR, woman with Alzheimer's disease. Kevorkian used his "suicide machine" in his 1968 Volkswagen van in Groveland Oaks Park near Holly, MI.

Kevorkian admitted to assisting in an estimated 130 suicides over the years.

More recently, he served eight years of a 10- to 25-year sentence in the 1998 death of Thomas Youk, who suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease. He was released from prison in 2007 and returned to live in an apartment in Royal Oak.