Michael O’Rourke was a well-respected doctor back in the late 1800s. Little did anyone know where his career would take him. He came to the U.S. in 1890 from Ireland and eventually settled in Saginaw, Michigan.
The following year, Michael had a patient who was 84 years old and suffering from a bad case of pneumonia. When Mike saw that she was suffering and in a lot of pain he thought, “Why not just let her die so she would be out of her misery.” She did die the next day. The thought of euthanasia never entered his mind. He felt he was just taking good care of his patients.
From then on Mike did the same for his terminally ill patients. As a physician he didn’t want to prolong their suffering, so he just let their illness take its natural course and he let them die.
As the years went on, Michael continued to let his very ill patients die but at one point he started to help them on with their journey.
He had a patient, a young man, who was suffering with advanced heart disease who couldn’t do most of the things he used to do and constantly complained about it. Mike decided that the young man, Matt, should be allowed to die to alleviate his suffering so he gave him a lethal dose of morphine. He laid back and his face became quite gray, and his eyes were dull. Matt died in the next 10 minutes.
A month or so later Mike had a patient who was suffering from the effects of a stroke. This young woman was a very happy grade schoolteacher but now she was having trouble speaking, the right side of her mouth was sagging down, and her right leg and arm didn’t function as usual. He felt that her life was over and so, once again, administered a lethal dose of morphine which ended her life.
Her family were distraught in the extreme. They couldn’t understand why such a young person should die. Mike told them. “Some people die young, and some don’t. I did all I could for your daughter but in this case it wasn’t enough.”
The following month, Doctor Mike was treating an old man who was 87 and suffering from senility. Mike believed this man would die within the next week, so he helped him to go to heaven with a syringe full of morphine.
The man died in the next 7 minutes. His family were relived he was gone. Mike overheard them saying they were looking forward to their inheritance.
Mike thought these people were awful, so he charged them an exorbitant fee for his services. They never questioned the doctor about this, not knowing his usual fee.
His fellow doctors and nurses now and then commented on how many of his patients dyed but they didn’t rock the boat, so they did nothing.
Almost a year went by without any patients at deaths door but then he had 2 in a row that needed his special treatment.
A new patient who had an advanced case of lung cancer was in to see Dr. Mike. George Bentley was in severe pain and had great trouble breathing so Mike felt he was doing the man a big favour by stopping his suffering. George’s family were relieved that he died and was out of his misery.
Then there was an elderly woman suffering from a severe case of diabetes. Dolores was quite obese and constantly craved sweets which she knew was bad for her, but she said she had no will power over her eating habits. Dr. Mike knew she was not long for this world, so he gave her morphine and she quickly died.
Mike felt the family owed him for dealing with their problem. In most cases he charged families high fees for end-of-life services.
One of Dr. Mike’s nurses was watching him closely because he seemed to have so many of his patients died. It got so that when she knew of a terminally ill patient, she would guess on how long before this patient died. She was right more times than not.
Gayle liked and respected Dr. O’Rourke but now she didn’t know what to think. She just knew that what he was doing was very wrong and she had to do something about it.
Gayle took her concerns to another doctor in their practice. Dr. Swanson listened to Gayle’s worry, but he didn’t want to believe that Dr. O’Rourke could do such a thing much less so many times, so he dismissed her concerns.
She didn’t know what to do next. She could take her concerns to another doctor, but she thought they might not believe her either. She could go straight to the police but she would have to have some proof, but she had none. She started to make in depth notes on all of Dr. O’Rourke’s patients. She hoped she could get some proof that way.
Gayle went ahead and reported O’Rourke to the police. They opened a case of malpractice on him and brought him to the police station for questioning.
But Dr. O’Rourke was ready for this and had all the right answers for the officers. He told them that he would give them his patient files for them to go over. Following Gayle’s notes, they asked him about each patient she listed. Michael had an answer for them in each case.
After the questioning, the police went over their notes but couldn’t find enough proof to arrest the doctor.
Gayle was distraught. She didn’t know what she could do next. She asked many of her friends if they knew of a lawyer who might work a pro-bono case for her and after many weeks of searching, she finally got word of a lawyer who would work with her. Stan Levin would not charge Gayle for his services, but he didn’t know how to go about getting evidence on the doctor.
Stan started by delving into O’Rourke’s past. He interviewed many of his patients and colleagues.
Gayle was quite relieved they had finally found patients to testify against O’Rourke. Gayle’s lawyer presented his opening statement by formally accusing Dr. O’Rourke of committing murder and malpractice. The rights of his victims were stated by the judge, and he also stated the rights of the defendant. Then the defence attorney presented his opening statement.
The judge had decided what evidence and testimony were admissible and gave it all to the jury. During this time Mike was out on bail and compiling his own evidence that he did no wrong. He asked a few of his healthy clients if they would speak for him in court and he was glad to find 3 patients who would vouch for him.
After all the witnesses were questioned the prosecution and the defence presented all of their evidence and then each side made closing arguments. Gayle’s lawyer spoke first summarising the evidence that had been presented and highlighting issues most beneficial to the prosecution.
The defendant’s attorney spoke next. He also summarised the strongest points of the defendant’s case and pointed out flaws in the prosecutor’s case.
The jury elected a foreman, considered all the evidence presented to them, reviewed the facts of the case and then reached a verdict.
The foreman gave a note stating the verdict to the judge, and the judge read the jury’s verdict to the court. The defendant was found guilty.
The judge laid down the sentence of life in prison and Gayle was thrilled with this result. She was happy that the case was over, and she could get back to her normal life.
Michael was flabbergasted that he was found guilty. He never thought he did anything wrong so couldn’t understand why he was going to prison.
After he had been in prison for a month, he was allowed visitors. Only his wife and one of his daughters would show up for him. His other daughters thought he was guilty and didn’t want to be associated with him any longer.
Susan hated going to the prison to see her husband. The whole process upset her, so she didn’t go very often, usually just once a month. Michael complained to her, but she just smiled and nodded but didn’t go more often.
Michael was ten years into his sentence when Susan died. She succumbed to a brain aneurysm and was gone very quickly. When he heard of her death, he wrote a letter to each of his daughters pleading with them to come and visit but none of them replied or ever went to see him.
Michael died after 23 years in prison. There was no funeral for him and none of his family came to deal with his remains, so he was buried in a pauper’s grave. It was a sad ending to the story of Dr. Michael O’Rourke.
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