Assisted suicide machine for sale in Kevorkian auction

The death machine used by the late Dr. Jack Kevorkian in assisted suicides will be among the items up for auction in an estate sale in late October, according to the sale's coordinator.

Kevorkian, known as Dr. Death for helping more than 100 people end their lives, died in June at the age of 83.

He started a polarizing national debate over assisted suicide by crisscrossing Michigan in a rusty Volkswagen van with a machine to aid sick and suffering people who wanted to die.

The sale will be held October 28 at the New York Institute of Technology in New York City, with a preview October 27, according to the website of David W. Streets, a California fine arts and celebrity memorabilia appraiser coordinating the sale for Kevorkian's estate.

Included at the auction will be Kevorkian's blue sweater, personal items, paperwork, and 13 paintings that have been on display at the Alma Museum in Boston, according to Streets.

Kevorkian left the bulk of his estate to find a cure for pediatric cancer, and the auction will benefit that cause, the web site said.

Kevorkian was convicted of second-degree murder in 1999 after a CBS News program aired a video of him administering lethal drugs to a 52-year-old man suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease. Kevorkian served eight years in prison. As a condition of his parole, he promised not to assist in any more suicides.