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The People vs. ‘Dr. Death’

» Euthanasia activist Jack Kevorkian and his fight for the right to die

Alex Stanton
Staff Writer

¢ L* is sacred.”

For the most part,
this is a universally accepted
norm in our modern society
that we must do absolutely
everything in our power to
save the lives of those in need.
Unless you've written a DNR
(Do Not Resuscitate) order,
no matter how grievous your
injuries are, doctors will do
everything possible to save you.
Many organized religions have
rules specifically forbidding
cold-blooded murder, and
Catholicism views suicide as
a major sin. As for the death
penalty, most of the world has
completely abolished it

Any way you look at it,
death is a pretty frightening
concept. Very few physically
and mentally healthy people
wish to see their lives end.
Your mortality is always in the
back of your mind, but it’s an
impossible concept to fathom.
To put it simply, death is the
end of a hopefully long and
fruitful journey we call life—a
journey which most are by
no means looking forward to
ending.

But what about those who
are experiencing symptoms
of the late stages of a terminal
illness? The ones who spend
every waking hour in pain, so
agonizing that no amount of
painkillers in the world could
relieve their suffering? There
are many serious afflictions and
illnesses that take such a toll
on whoever is suffering from

them, that many—if not most— : became real when Kevorkian

: met 54-year-old Alzheimer’s

: patient Janet Adkins of

: Portland, Oregon. Adkins

: played a small but significant
: role in Kevorkian’s life as the

: patient on whom he—using

: the Thanatron—assisted his

die with dignity that falls within : first suicide. As there were no

: laws against assisted suicide

: in Michigan at the time, the

: charges of murder against him
: were dropped. In 1991, after

: assisting in two more suicides,
: the State of Michigan revoked
: his medical licence. Although

: Michigan had outlawed assisted :
: suicide in 1994, Oregon voted

: to pass the Death with Dignity
: Act in the same year, making

would consider a fate worse
than death. There are people
out there of sound mind who
have decided that they want to
end their immense suffering
peacefully. Don’t they deserve
the option to seek out a way to

the confines of the law?

Jack Kevorkian, a
pathologist who graduated
from University of Michigan
Medical School in 1952,
began writing about this very
subject in 1980 for the German
journal, Medicine and Law;
the culmination of his work at
the publication was, arguably,
his article The Last Fearsome

: Taboo: Medical Aspects of

: Planned Death, published in

: 1988. In it, he expressed his

: desire for the establishment

: and legalization of what he

: called “death clinics,” where

: those who've consented to

: assisted suicide could die with

: dignity on their own terms.

: They'd also be given the option
: to contribute their bodies and

: organs to science—neither

: of these were common topics

: of discussion in the twilight

: years of the 2oth century.

: He discusses a handful of :
: hypothetical patients, including :
: aman in his 30s with cerebral:
: palsy, and a terminally-ill, :
: severely handicapped newborn, :
: and described situations in

: which they would achieve

: consent and carry out any

: procedure or organ removal

: as efficiently as possible. The

: paper was famous enough for

: Kevorkian to be dubbed by

: the media as “Dr. Death,” a

: nickname he apparently earned
: among his inner circle decades

: before.

One year after this ground-

: breaking and controversial

: paper was published,

: Kevorkian—using electrical

: switches, magnets, and

: household tools purchased

: at a garage sale—created the

: “Thanatron” (translated to

: Greek as death machine), a

: machine which triggered an

: intravenous dose of drugs to the
: patients, which would first put
: them in a comatose state, and
: then cause a heart attack after
: consciousness was lost.

In 1990, the hypothetical

 

 

: it the first state to legalize

: euthanasia. Kevorkian’s

: activism for suffering patients

: was applauded and supported

: bya large majority of doctors

: country-wide, including those
: in his home state of Michigan.
: By 1998—after spending most

: of the ‘gos in and out of court

: due to the questionable legality
: of his practice—Kevorkian had
: performed about 100 assisted

: suicides using the Thanatron.

Thomas Youk, a 52-year-

: old sufferer of Lou Gehrig's

: Disease (commonly known as
: ALS) for two years, sought out
: the services of Kevorkian due
: to progressing to the point of
: full-blown quadriplegia. Youk
: gave Kevorkian his informed

: consent, in writing, to the

: procedure; on September 17,

: 1998, Kevorkian personally

: administered the fatal cocktail
: intravenously, ending Youk’s

: life—events which the doctor
: videotaped.

Kevorkian allowed 60

: minutes to air his recording of

: the assisted suicide of Youk—an
: utterly shocking move done to

: bring awareness to his cause

: and to challenge the authorities
: to arrest him.

He succeeded with flying

: colours on both counts.
: The death of Youk became
: one of the most influential

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: talking points among medical

: practitioners and ethics experts.
: More significantly for Kevorkian
: himself, the state had accepted

: his challenge; he was charged

: and arrested for second degree

: murder and delivery of a

: controlled substance. The jury

: dropped the latter charges,

: but found Kevorkian guilty

: of murder, and handed down

: a sentence of 10-25 years in

: prison.

Kevorkian, at 80, was

: paroled in the summer of 2007
: for good behaviour. He spent

: just over eight years in prison.

: Although he was, under no

? uncertain terms, banned from
: ever practicing medicine again,
: he spent the remaining three

: years of his life advocating for

: the cause he had fought for

: his entire career as a medical

: professional. His life was

: claimed by Thrombosis on June
: 3, 2011.

There are very few topics in

: society more dividing than that
: of whether anyone has the right
: to end their life on their own

: terms and, if so, who we allow

: to take this drastic measure.

: Kevorkian, whether you saw

: him asa hero ora murderer,

: was a pioneer for education

: on the subject; however, even

: advocates for assisted suicide

: rights are divided on Kevorkian’s

 

: methods. The author of a

: suicide handbook called Final

: Exit, Derek Humphry, wrote

: off Kevorkian as “too fanatical,

: too obsessed” about his suicide-
: related work to be of any use to
: the movement. On the other

: side of the spectrum, Philip

: Nitschke, founder of euthanasia
: advocate company Exit

: International, acknowledged

: Kevorkian’s role in bringing

: this topic to the forefront of

: medical discourse by calling

: his willingness to accept

: imprisonment for his beliefs as

: “the hallmark of a true hero”.

The epitaph on Kevorkian’s

: tombstone reads, “He sacrificed
: himself for everyone's rights.”

: On February 6 of this year,

: denying someone the right to

: die with dignity was declared

: unconstitutional by the

: Supreme Court of Canada.

: Physician-assisted euthanasia

: is legal by state law in four US

: territories.

It may take a while to get

: the ball rolling in terms of

: putting all the legal aspects to

: paper but if there’s ever a world
: where voluntary euthanasia is

: fully legalized, there need to be
: very strict regulations so that

: the right people make the right
: decisions for themselves. After
: all, who are we to decide who's

: suffering and to what degree?