The court today, without comment, turned down Kevorkian´s argument that the statements were false and were not constitutionally protected free speech.
Kevorkian admits he has attended more than 130 suicides. He is serving a 10- to 25-year prison sentence in the state of Michigan for second-degree murder after being convicted in the 1998 death of a terminally ill man whose death he videotaped.
Kevorkian sued the American Medical Association and the Michigan State Medical Society in 1996 over statements on AMA stationery, also disseminated by the state medical group, that he was a «reckless instrument of death´´ who «poses a great threat to the public´´ and that he engaged in «criminal practices.´´
In the appeal acted on today, Kevorkian´s attorneys said he had not been convicted of a crime at the time the statements were made.
