Dr. Suicide Jack Kevorkian got his nickname partly because he helped many commit suicide. He considered the right to death to be one of the fundamental human rights that had nothing to do with state laws. Jack believed that the sufferer could decide to die, and that doctors should be allowed to assist him in this.
Creator of thanatron
Initially, Jacob (Jack) Kevorkian wanted to become a baseball radio commentator, but his Armenian immigrant parents believed in his more promising future. So he became a pathologist. Jack Kevorkian worked mainly with the dead, performing autopsies to study the nature of the disease. His parents never imagined that he would be one of the creators of the first modern "thanatron" - the "death machine" in Greek - and the first to help people use this machine.
Jack Kevorkian: biography
Kevorkian was born on May 28, 1928 in Pontiac, Michigan, and was brought up in Armenian, Greek and Bulgarian surroundings. He attended the medical school of the University of Michigan, which he graduated in 1952. For the first time, he received the creepy nickname Doctor Death for pioneering medical experiments in the 1950s. Jack photographed the eyes of dying patients, trying to determine the exact time of death. He believed that accurate knowledge would provide valuable information about diseases. Kevorkian worked as a pathologist in three state hospitals: St. Joseph, the cities of Pontiac and Wyandotte. He also worked in the same specialty in some hospitals in Los Angeles. Kevorkian was the founder and director of the Medical Diagnostic Center in Southfield, Michigan, and the chief pathologist at the Saratoga Hospital in Detroit. He has published over 30 brochures and articles in medical journals, including Prescription Medicine: The Benefit of Planned Death.
Suicide machine
American doctor Jack Kevorkian witnessed the suffering of terminally ill patients and became a strong believer that they had the moral right to die when the pain became unbearable, and that doctors should help them with this. To this end, he designed and built a machine that, in the hand of a person who wants to die, injected a harmless saline solution intravenously. When the patient was ready, he pressed the button, the flow of the harmless solution stopped, and the introduction of thiopental began. This chemical substance entered the patient into deep sleep, and then into a coma. After one minute, the timer in the machine started the administration of a lethal dose of potassium chloride, which within a few minutes led to cardiac arrest. The patient was dying of a heart attack while in a deep sleep. Death, according to Kevorkian, was quick, painless and easy. For a person suffering from pain in the last stage of cancer or some other disease, the machine provided the so-called. painless euthanasia.
Biography: Jack Kevorkian - Doctor Death
In June 1990, Jack was the first among many to help commit suicide. He used his car to hasten the demise of Janet Adkins, a 54-year-old woman from Portland, Oregon, who suffered from Alzheimer's. The state of Michigan immediately charged him with murder, which was later dropped mainly due to the unclear legal status of suicide assistance in the state. By 1999, Kevorkian contributed to the death of nearly 130 people. In each case, he made his participation publicly available as part of a campaign to change the attitude of society and laws towards suicides with medical assistance.
Public response
Many supported what Kevorkian was doing. On June 21, 1996, during an interview with the Detroit radio station, well-known TV journalist Mike Wallace said that he was old and ready to contact Kevorkyan if necessary. He would do this if he suffered from severe pain and a protracted illness, since a person has the right to do with himself what he considers necessary.
Others did not agree with this view. The National Association of Spinal Injuries opposed suicide help because there were more effective solutions to the problem. Refusing medical treatment is the personal choice of the way to die - in your own home with your family or in a hospital bed. Euthanasia involves giving someone the right to take their lives. Man is given the right to kill.
Legal issues
Despite ongoing legal problems, Jack Kevorkian continued to assist in committing suicide. In 1994, he faced allegations of murder in the death of Thomas Hyde, who suffered from terminal nerve disease, known as Lou Gehrig's disease. The jury agreed with the argument that there is no legislation in Michigan against assisting in suicide and therefore Kevorkian cannot be convicted.
The doctor’s team of lawyers received another acquittal. They defended the position that a person could not be convicted of criminal assistance to a suicide if this person received medication with the intention of alleviating pain and suffering, even if it accelerated the death. Kevorkian was charged four times with euthanasia in Michigan, and was acquitted in three cases. In the fourth case, a trial was announced.
Legislative prohibition
In 1998, the Michigan Legislature passed a law according to which assisting in committing suicide was considered a crime and was punishable by five years in prison or a $ 10, 000 fine. The law went into effect a few months before the state’s voters rejected a proposal to legalize suicide. This closed the possibility of alleviating the pain and suffering that Kevorkian’s lawyers used to obtain acquittals. The law provides that a person who is aware of another person’s intentions to commit suicide and provides the means to do so, is involved in suicide or helps plan suicide, is guilty of a felony.
Calvary fighter for the right to die
Kevorkian continued what he thought was right and called on the authorities to arrest and punish him. On September 17, 1998, he euthanized Thomas Yuk. Instead of asking the patient to press the button and administer a lethal dose, Kevorkyan, having talked with a patient suffering from Lou Gehrig’s disease, introduced the drug to him. Moreover, he videotaped all the events in such a way that there was no doubt what he had done. He then handed the tape to the 60 Minutes television show. This episode was shown to the whole world.
Soon after, Kevorkian was arrested for first-degree murder. In this case, when he administered a lethal dose of medication to Thomas Yuck, he committed euthanasia, or “mercy killing, ” rather than helping to commit suicide. Kevorkian was also charged with a felony under the law prohibiting the promotion of suicide, which entered into force about two weeks before the death of Yuk. Jack decided to personally defend himself in court. On March 26, 1999, he was found guilty of second-degree murder by a Michigan jury.
Exciting public opinion with his actions, Kevorkian continued the campaign to legalize suicides with medical help. He expected an arrest, and often it happened. He believed that he was doing everything possible for terminally ill people experiencing severe pain and suffering. At the same time, Kevorkian managed to draw public attention to this problem and force the courts and legislative bodies to take decisions on this controversial issue.
