Jack Kevorkian

Jack Kevorkian, M.D. (born Pontiac, Michigan, May 26, 1928) is a controversial American pathologist. He is most noted for publicly championing a terminal patient's "right to die" and claims to have assisted at least 130 patients ^* to that end. Imprisoned in 1999, he is currently serving out a 10 to 25 year prison sentence for for second-degree murder in the 1998 poisoning of Thomas Youk, 52, of Oakland County, Michigan.

Writings

In the early 1980s, Kevorkian published numerous articles in the German journal Medicine and Law, outlining his ideas on euthanasia and ethics. In 1988, Kevorkian's article, "The Last Fearsome Taboo: Medical Aspects of Planned Death", was published in Medicine and Law. In it, he outlined his proposed system of planned deaths in suicide clinics, including medical experimentation on patients. In 1993, he published Prescription Medicide: The Goodness of Planned Death. As the public became aware of the assisted suicides he participated in and followed the subsequent trials, the American media began to refer to him as "Dr. Death".

Career

Kevorkian started advertising in Detroit papers in 1987 as a physician consultant for "death counseling". Between 1990 and 1998, Kevorkian assisted in the suicide of nearly one hundred terminally ill people, according to his lawyer Geoffrey Fieger. In each of these cases, the individuals themselves took the final action which resulted in their own deaths: voluntary euthanasia. Dr. Kevorkian allegedly assisted only by attaching the individual to a device that he had made. The individual then pushed a button which released the drugs or chemicals that would end his or her own life. Two deaths were assisted by means of a device which employed a needle and delivered the euthanizing drugs mechanically through an IV. Kevorkian called it a "Thanatron" (death machine). Other patients were assisted by a device which employed a gas mask fed by a canister of carbon monoxide which was called "Mercitron" (mercy machine). This became necessary because Kevorkian's medical license had been revoked after the first two deaths, and he could no longer get the substances required for "Thanatron". Many of the people whom Kevorkian assisted in dying were Unitarian Universalists.

On the November 22, 1998 broadcast of 60 Minutes, Kevorkian allowed the airing of a videotape he had made on September 17, 1998, which featured the voluntary euthanasia of Thomas Youk, an adult male with full decisional capacity who was in the final stages of ALS. After Youk provided his fully-informed consent on September 17, 1998, Kevorkian administered a lethal injection. This incited the district attorney to bring murder charges against him, claiming that Kevorkian single-handedly caused the death. Kevorkian filmed the procedure and the death and submitted it for broadcast on "60 Minutes."

During much of this period, Kevorkian was represented by attorney Geoffrey Fieger.

Conviction and imprisonment

Kevorkian was tried numerous times over the years for assisting in suicides. Many of these trials took place in Oakland County, Michigan. In every instance prior to the Thomas Youk case, Kevorkian was acquitted.

Kevorkian was even beginning to gain some public support for his cause, as is evidenced by the defeat of Oakland County prosecutor Richard Thompson to David Gorcycain in the Republican primary. The result of the political election was attributed, in part, to the declining public support from the prosecution of Kevorkian and its associated legal expenses.

Kevorkian also demonstrated a flair for dramatic publicity stunts at this time, showing up to one trial in a powdered wig and protesting an incarceration pursuant to another trial by staging a hunger strike. He also wore a placard challenging the Oakland County prosecutor to bring him to trial for the death of Youk.

On March 26, 1999, Kevorkian was charged with second-degree homicide and also for the delivery of a controlled substance (administering a lethal injection to Thomas Youk). Unlike the prior trials involving an area of law in flux (assisted suicide), the law of homicide is relatively fixed and routine. Kevorkian, however, discharged his attorneys and proceeded through the trial "pro se" (representing himself). The judge ordered a criminal defense attorney to remain available at trial for information and advice. Inexperienced in law and persisting in his efforts to appear pro se, Kevorkian encountered great difficulty in presenting his evidence and arguments.

The Michigan jury found Kevorkian guilty of second-degree homicide. It was proven that he had directly killed a person because his patient was not physically able to kill himself. He is currently in prison in Michigan, serving a 10-to-25-year sentence.

In the course of the various proceedings, Kevorkian made statements under oath and to the press that he considered it his duty to assist persons in their death. He also indicated under oath that because he thought laws to the contrary were archaic and unjust, he would persist in civil disobedience, even under threat of criminal punishment. Future intent to commit crimes, of course, is an element courts and parole boards may consider in deciding whether to grant a convicted person relief. Since his conviction (and losses on appeal), Kevorkian has been denied parole repeatedly.

In an MSNBC interview aired on September 29, 2005, Kevorkian indicated that if he is granted parole, he will not resume directly helping people die and will restrict himself to campaigning to have the law changed. On December 22, 2005 Kevorkian was denied parole by a board on the count of 7-2 recommending not to give parole. He will become eligible for parole consideration again in 2007. He now seeks a pardon.

In a recent interview in ABC News, Kevorkian's lawyer stated that Kevorkian is terminally ill with Hepatitis C, which he contracted during research into blood transfusions and is expected to pass away within a year. In light of this he has applied for a pardon, parole, or commutation by the parole board or Governor Jennifer Granholm.^*

Artwork

Kevorkian was in an adult education oil painting course in Pontiac, Michigan in the 1960s. His art combines his knowledge of human anatomy with his fascination with death ^*. Michael Betzold described the 18 canvases he created in this course as "bold and strident, as critical and unforgiving, as pointed and dramatic as Kevorkian's own fighting words. They are strikingly well executed — stark and surreal — and frightening, demented and/or hilarious, depending on one's point of view".

Although the 18 original canvases have been lost, Kevorkian returned to his art in the 90s to finance his crusade for assisted-suicide.

His art frequently returns to themes of hypocrisy, pain, war, death, self-destruction, suicide, despair and criticisms of contemporary culture and Christianity.

One of his paintings are used on the cover of Acid Bath's album Paegan Terrorism Tactics.

Kevorkian also released a jazz album entitled "A Very Still Life" on which he plays the flute.

Parody & Spoofs

In one episode of Neurotically Yours, Pilz-E confuses a tool for a Kevorkian scarf.

In one episode of the 1994 TV series The Critic, Duke Phillips is diagnosed with a terminal disease and decides to commit suicide with the help of "Dr. Krekorian". Jay Sherman eventually convinces Duke not to kill himself, to which "Krekorian" laments: "I've never lost a patient before".

In the Married With Children episode, "Love Conquers Al", after hearing of the Jeffersons' visit to a marriage counselor, Peggy suggests to Al that maybe this doctor might help their marriage. To which Al comments, "No Peg the only doctor that can do that is named Kevorkian" ^*.

In an episode of The Simpsons, Grandpa Simpson is depressed and sees a doctor about it. The doctor (Dr. Egoyan, like Kevorkian) suggests assisted suicide and hooks Grandpa up to the "DiePod", a spoof of iPod.

In an episode of "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air", the family is in a hospital after the character Phillip Banks (James Avery) has a heart attack. The doctor that talks to the family introduces himself as Dr. Kevarkian with an 'a', to which the family reacts in shock. The doctor then informs them of the difference in spelling.

On the Weekend Update segment of an episode of Saturday Night Live, Norm MacDonald mocked Dr. Kevorkian's decision to obtain a handgun license and purchase a pistol (for self-defensive purposes) saying "Alright, now he's just getting lazy."

A recording name used by New Zealand singer-songwriter Jordan Reyne is Dr Kevorkian and the Suicide machine.

References

Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying by Derek Humphry. ISBN 0385336535.
Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide (For and Against) by Gerald Dworkin, R. G. Frey (Series Editor), Sissela Bok, 1998: ISBN 0521587891.
Physician-Assisted Suicide: The Anatomy of a Constitutional Law Issue by Arthur Gordon Svenson and Susan M. Behuniak. ISBN 074251725X.
Assisted Suicide and the Right to Die: The Interface of Social Science, Public Policy, and Medical Ethics by Barry Rosenfeld PhD, 2004 ISBN 1591471028.
Forced Exit : The Slippery Slope from Assisted Suicide to Legalized Murder by Wesley J. Smith, 1997. ISBN 0812927907.
"A View to a Kill" by Wesley J. Smith, National Review Online, December 14, 2005, retrieved December 14, 2005.
Appointment With Dr. Death by Michael Betzold

External links

PBS.org Fronline Program "The Kevorkian Verdict: The Life and Legacy of the Suicide Doctor" -- with timeline and other info.
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Final Exit
The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition of Canada

Armenian-Americans | Euthanasia | Living people | 1928 births | People from Detroit