Essay on Jack Kevorkian

Euthanasia got its modern connotation beginning in the late nineteenth century (Dowbiggin 1). The Great Depression caused a major spike in discussion concerning suicide and controlled dying (Dowbiggin 33). Suicide rates rose about four percent at the beginning of the Great Depression, but slowly began to decrease across the entire decade. Several important figures killed themselves, which alerted several people to the need to talk about suicide and methods people killed themselves (Dowbiggin 34). Voluminous topics of euthanasia lead towards a conversation about Hitler, and the way he sterilized and euthanized people, bringing the negative connotation into the discussion (Singer 201). What some fail to see is that in the medical community, the

Physician assisted suicide was brought to mainstream attention in the 1990’s due to Dr. Kevorkian’s “suicide machine," who claims to have assisted over 100 suicide deaths of terminally ill patients with Alzheimer’s disease (Dickinson, p. 8). In the early 1990’s, for the first time in United States history the issue was brought to the voting polls in California, Washington, and Oregon (Dickinson, p. 9). The bill was passed in Oregon; legally allowing physicians to facilitate death of the terminally ill, but voters fails to pass the bill in Washington and California (Dickinson, p. 9). In 2008 voters in Washington State passed the Washington Death with Dignity Act (Dickinson, p. 277). Today

“A serial mercy killer” (The Right To Die, 80). This is what some would define what Kevorkian did. Kevorkian, however does not feel this way. He performs his acts for the greater good in his eyes. However, he never hesitated to try any other treatments that could result in the patient’s improved health, whether it be antibiotics, or even experimental drug maintenance programs (The Right To Die, 82). He feels that medically assisted suicide is an essential option to those that are incurable and dying (The Right To Die, 83). Kevorkian’s main concern for his terminal patients was their comfort and confidence in their decision. He explains the death his patient’s experienced as being “like a painless heart attack in a deep sleep”(The Right To Die,

By contrast, Oregon being the only law allowing terminally ill adults to request a lethal dose of drugs from a physician requires two physicians to agree the patient is of sound mind and has less than six months to live. California is in the works of voting on a similarly careful measure. One of its sponsors cites Dr. Kevorkian as “the perfect reason we need this law in California. We don’t want there to be more Dr. Kevorkians” (The New York Times, 2007).”

Adkins contacted Kevorkian after hearing about his suicide machine' and asked for his help in assisting her into death, according to Kathlyn Gay. After hearing Adkins describe her illness, Kevorkian refused to help the patient and suggested that she try experimental drug treatments. After six months had gone by Adkins informed Dr. Kevorkian that the drug treatment had been unsuccessful and Kevorkian finally agreed to help with her request (44-45).

	Dr. Kevorkian and Janet Adkins then met to discuss their intentions and eventually carry out the suicide (Hendin, ³Seduced by Death² 134). Kevorkian and his two sisters, Margo and Flora, met with Ron, Janet, and Janet¹s closest friend Carroll Rehmke in their motel room on June 2, 1990 (Wolfson 56). ³He had already prepared authorization forms signifying Janet¹s intent, determination, and freedom of choice, which she readily agreed to sign² (Wolfson 56).

Secondly, Dr. Kevorkian used the helpless and the powerless people. Though they never say it explicitly, people with incurable diseases come to doctors to seek for professional suggestion and especially moral support. True that Kevorkian gave his terminally ill patients his version of professional suggestion, but the suggestion he gave clashed from the moral support they desperately needed. Position yourself on this kind of situation. If you had a friend or relative who got incurable disease(s), would you suggest him to see Dr. Kevorkian? Would you suggest him to die? As a fellow human being, and especially as a doctor, Kevorkian shouldn’t have discouraged his patients, particularly the hopeless ones. Moreover, according to an article on the New York Times, at the end of his own life, as he weakened each day in the hospital, Jack Kevorkian couldn’t take the advantages he had offered to others. “This is something I would want,” he once said. He should have assured his patients the same way he would do to himself. If not, he should have at least encouraged them with the positive thoughts, told them to focus on the positive things about life and not to give up.

The infamous story of Dr. Jack Kevorkian is a unique one. Professor Hengameh M. Hosseini

In order to euthanize a patient, Dr. Kevorkian had to brainstorm, and create an easy, painless, and peaceful way to carry out this process. As the book “Between the Dying and the Dead” (2006) states, In 1989, Dr. Kevorkian invented the Thanatron, which translates from Greek to English as the "Death Machine." In 1953, Kevorkian got his

In a single sentence Smith (2011) uses Kevorkian’s objective of organ harvesting and medical research in an obscure and biased context. By linking the reputation of “the doctor of death”, Jack Kevorkian, and his famous “right to die” campaign, with his support of organ harvesting and medical experiments in the article, At the Bottom of the Slippery Slope, Smith (2011) was able to draw on the emotional reactions of people who, when it comes to the issue of death, are highly polarized. Regardless of what issue of death society is facing, be it abortion, capital punishment, or assisted suicide, the vast majority has openly strong opinions that are a direct reflection of their ethics. In this case Smith (2011) publicly used the well-known controversial

Dr. Jack Kevorkian more commonly known as Dr. Death is greatly known for his opinion that euthanasia should be legalized and his work with patients seeking help. He was very important in showing euthanasia and voicing his opinion on the subject so the public could not ignore the importance of the matter. Dr. Kevorkian was said to have been involved with 130 suicides by patients who wanted to end their own lives (Nicol and Wylie 17). He had two machines he used to help the patients, one an injection and the other a mask, however both machines were operated by the patient and although Dr. Kevorkian was taken to court many times for these he was not convicted because the patient was in control. He was very careful as to not actually commit the act himself until he was contacted by Thomas Youk, a young with Lou Gheric’s disease; Lou Gheric’s disease is when the muscle stop working and eventually the patient chokes to death. Tom’s condition prevented him from actually operating the machines and therefore Dr. Kevorkian decided that he would operate the machine himself because he cared greatly about all his patients and could not let Tom live in his constant fear (Nicol and Wylie 11). Dr. Kevorkian taped Tom’s wishes and then himself hooking up the machine and pushing the button to inject the drugs. He then proceed to

Born in Michigan, Jack Kevorkian also known for his nickname "Dr. Death" was a pathologist, a person who studies the causes and effects of diseases. He was the second of three children and only son. He graduated with honors at Pontiac High school and was accepted into the University of Michigan. Claiming to become a civil engineer, he no longer had interest in civil engineering and decided to switch his career path to focus on botany and biology. Later on, he settled with studying medicine earning a specialty in pathology.

Doctor assisted suicide is a topic that has recently become a much larger debated issue than before. A timeline put together by Michael Manning and Ian Dowbigging shows that prior to Christianity, doctor assisted suicide was something that was tolerated, and was not heavily questioned (2). Yet, in the 13th century, Thomas Aquinas had made a statement about suicide as well as doctor assisted suicide, and his words shaped the Catholic teaching on suicide into what they teach today. Beginning in the 17th century, Common Law tradition frowned upon suicide, as well as assisting in suicide, and the colonies had adopted the Common Law principles. (2) In 1828, New York passed a law completely outlawing the assistance of suicide, and made it to where whomever assisted in the suicide could be tried for murder. In 1976, California became the first state to allow patients to withdrawal themselves from life saving medicines, and this Natural Death Act was seen as a gateway to assisted suicide. (3-7) As controversy about California 's Natural Death Act increased, Pope John Paul II released a statement in 1980 which opposed to killing someone out of mercy, but allowed the increased use of painkillers (8). Although, in 1994 Oregon passed their Death with Dignity act, and with it came incredible amounts of backlash. Yet, in 2008 Washington state passed the same act to legalize doctor assisted suicide. (10-12)

   Euthanasia or assisted suicide would not only be available to people who are terminally ill. This popular misconception is what this essay seeks to correct. There is considerable confusion on this point, perhaps further complicated by statements in the media.

“Active euthanasia defines the practice where death is caused by direct administration of a lethal substance” (Sayers, 2005). Dr. Jack Kevorkian is a physician well known for his cases of physician assisted suicide. “In his writings and statements, Kevorkian advocates a society that allows euthanasia for the dying, the disabled, the mentally ill, infants with birth defects and comatose adults; and he sanctions experiments prior to their death and organ harvesting.” (Betzold, 1997). Many other physicians and also nurses have performed euthanasia causing public alarm that some cases are actually murder. In one such case a physician and his nurse, Dr. James Gallant decided to take a Ms. Clarietta Day life into his own hands: “Day collapsed on the phone while calling 911 in the early morning of March 22. She was taken to the hospital and diagnosed with a subarachnoid hemorrhage (burst blood vessel in the brain), a condition that is invariably fatal. Sometime before she died, Day had filled out an advance directive, which included instructions from August 1995, in which she wrote that should she become unconscious, she wished to be kept alive for at least forty-eight hours. However, following the diagnosis, Day received painkillers every five to ten minutes for a four-hour period, even though there was no documentation that Day was in discomfort or agitated. She was removed from a respirator and had a magnet applied to her