Dr. Herbert Nieburg, director of' behavioral medicine and psycho-oncology at Four Winds hospital in Cross River, said yesterday he supports terminally ill patients' rights to end their own lives, under certain conditions.

Nieburg spoke to about 35 people at the fall meeting of the Hemlock Society of Westchester and Putnam Counties at the Unitarian Fellowship of Northern Westchester in Mount Kisco. The society supports the option of physician-assisted suicide for people who are terminally ill.

Nieburg stressed that he does riot assist in suicides of' terminally ill patients, which is against Now York state law. However, he said he supports terminally ill patients' right. to decide whether to continue treatment in the face Of' incurable illness and their right to commit suicide

He has known terminally ill patients who have ended their own lives after careful thought and preparation, including say

I have to tell you that these deaths have been the most humane, the most dignified that I have ever seen," he said

But he said he did not agree with the methods of Dr. Jack Kevorkian.

"I do have a problem with someone coming in, filling out a questionnaire, being videotaped and the next day, exiting," he said, using a word for suicide. "I think it's cold. I think it's distant. I think it's removed."

When possible, doctors should alleviate a patient's clinical depression or acute pain to allow them to make decisions with a clear mind regarding whether to continue to battle an illness, Nieburg said.

Audience member Dan Marden, 26, of Cross River said he did not feel anyone should have the right to cut off life support. In 1983, Marden fractured his skull in a car accident, and doctors advised his family that it was unlikely he would ever emerge from the coma Having survived, he does not think people should have the right to stipulate in advance that life, support be cut off.

"Ultimately, if  we're to believe what these people have to say, that means that morals and ethics are relative," lie said. "That means you can nationalize everything that is evil.''

But Lawrence Weiner of White Plains, a member of the Hemlock Society, said he enjoyed Nieburg's discussion.

"He was a thoughtful, informative, birthright and down-to-earth speaker," he said.

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