...of pain, and suffering that you make the decision to end your own life. We often have people there in our lives to help us along the way. Parents are there to love us, teachers are there to teach us, and doctors are there to help us when we are sick. But what happens when you are terminally ill, who is there to help you then? Doctors can only do so much. Many people believe that they should have the right to end their lives, while others disagree. If people do decide to end their lives, why shouldn’t they get the best care possible? Dr. Jack Kevorkian is a very well known physician who offered these possibilities to his patients with grim futures. In this paper I will be covering different aspects of the very controversial subject of physician-assisted suicide. Background On April 13, 1999, the infamous doctor performing assisted suicide, Dr. Jack Kevorkian also known as “Dr. Death.” As CNN’s journalist Mallory Simon reported (1999), Kevorkian was sentenced to ten to twenty-five years in prison for second degree murder and three to seven years for delivery of a controlled substance. According to Neal Nicol’s...
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...Jack Kevorkian – “Dr Death” The issue of assisted suicide or human euthanasia is one that is an ongoing controversy to date. So far only three states have actually passed laws allowing for assisted suicides; Montana, Oregon and Washington. Whether or not more will follow suit is an up in the air concept that is continuously up for debate. There are groups who are great supporters of the right to end one’s own life and in the same right there are those who vehemently oppose the idea of assisted suicide. It is through the efforts of a select group that the issue has gained countrywide recognition. One such person was none other than, Jack Kevorkian. Jack Kevorkian was born Murad Kevorkian, on May 26, 1928 in Michigan to refugee parents of the Armenian Massacre. Jack was the second of two children born to his parents, refugees of an Armenian massacre that took place after WWI. They were strict and religious people who worked hard to raise obedient Christian children. Being a very smart and inquisitive child, Jack did not agree with some of the views shared by his parents and their church. He decided to stop attending church at the age of 12. His parents also pushed each child to excel in their education; putting much of their focus on Jack, as their only son. Jack did very well as a child, not only in his academics but musically and with the arts. He even debated with his teachers whenever he thought it necessary due to his advanced level of intelligence. Jack...
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...they die while others argue that, in fact, it could prevent years of pain and suffering. It may be easy to hear the definition of physician assisted suicide and assume it is not morally acceptable, however, there are several educated arguments defending a patients right to choose. According to Dr. Quill, in most surveys, approximately two-thirds of the United States approves of (PAS) as as option for the terminally ill yet when the time comes to legalize (PAS), the vote splits at 50/50. The controversy of (PAS) erupted in 1990 when Dr. Jack Kevorkian, a pathologist, assisted his first patient into death (Landau 80). His first client was Janet Adkins who was a sufferer of Alzheimers. Kevorkian reported the death to police but no prosecution followed (BBC News). Before the story of his assisted suicides hit national news, these issues were not a topic of public discussion. According to the judge that sentenced Kevorkian to twenty five years behind bars, “He brought to the forefront end-of-life issues” (BBC News). Dr. Kevorkian assisted others in death who suffered from cancer, alzheimers, arthritis, heart disease, emphysema, and multiple schlerosis. Despite his many critics, Dr. Kevorkian insisted that he was simply helping patients ease their suffering. He had hoped that euthanasia would be legalized by the time he passed but unfortunately the topic still remains highly...
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...ineluctable phenomenon, but it can be quick, possibly painless, or one can bear insufferable pain. It is stated in the Hippocratic Oath, “I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan; and similarly I will not give a pessary to cause an abortion” (United States). A physician should uphold his or her duty to save a person’s life, even though that person may be in immense amount of pain and rather die. This is where the debate over legalizing euthanasia comes in. Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are very similar, however, dissimilar at the same time. In all technicality, physician-assisted suicide is the active form of euthanasia, and it gained popularity after the largely controversial case of Dr. Jack Kevorkian. Comprehending the basic knowledge of euthanasia and its history will help one to understand why euthanasia is not such an unacceptable practice, but also why legalizing euthanasia can benefit many people. Euthanasia is derived from “the Greek word for ‘good death’” (Terri). This “may imply that the Greeks and Romans who coined the term agreed on the basic issues [of euthanasia although,] history shows on us that this is not the case” (McDougall 3). Until Christianity came about, if the person is suffering from immense pain and/or the quality of life is futile, a physician’s duty to kill was equated to the duty to heal. Unfortunately, euthanasia received a much more dramatic, negative reputation in Germany in the 1920s when people...
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...to send her into a deep coma and finally a lethal dose of potassium chloride to stop her heart (Wilson). The machine was the brainchild of the Detroit medical pathologist Dr. Jack Kevorkian. Doctor Kevorkian, known as Dr. Death, claimed to have helped 130 people commit suicide when terminally ill, died in Detroit. He was 83. Born in Pontiac, Michigan, to Armenian immigrants, Jacob...
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...America 1973- The American Medical Association issues the Patient Bill of Rights. The groundbreaking document allows patients to refuse medical treatment. 1976- The New Jersey Supreme Court rules that the parents of Karen Ann Quinlan, who has been in a tranquilizer-and-alcohol-induced coma for a year, can remove her respirator. She dies nine years later. 1979- Jo Roman, a New York artist dying of cancer, makes a videotape, telling her friends and family she intends to end her life. She later commits suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills. 1985- Betty Rollin publishes "Last Wish," the story of her mother's battle with ovarian cancer. The book reveals that Ida Rollin killed herself with a sedative overdose. 1990- Dr. Jack Kevorkian performs his first assisted suicide, using a homemade machine, to end the life of Alzheimer's patient Janet Adkins. Meanwhile, after protracted legal wrangling, the parents of Nancy Cruzan, who has been in a coma for seven years, are allowed to remove her feeding tube. Friends and co-workers testify in court that she would not have wanted to live. 1991- Hemlock Society founder Derek Humphry first publishes "Final Exit." The controversial suicide "how-to" book later becomes a national best seller. 1994- Voters in Oregon pass a referendum making it the only state in the country that allows doctors to prescribe life-ending drugs for terminally ill patients. The hotly contested law was not put into effect until last year. 1995-...
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...continuously controverted since the beginning of medicine. Advocates of physician assisted suicide feel they have the right to avoid excruciating pain, prolonged suffering, and embrace a timely and dignified death. Adversaries of PAS contend that physicians have a moral responsibility to keep their patients alive as determined in the Hippocratic Oath (one of the oldest binding documents written in history, still bring used by physicians). In 1990, Physician- Assisted Suicide became better known to the public when retired pathologist, Dr. Jack Kevorkian assisted his first patient, Janet Adkins, into death. News of Adkins’ death made him a national celebrity and criminal, but ultimately encouraged Kevorkian to rebel and proceed with what he considered, his duty. Murad Kevorkian, better known as Dr. Jack Kevorkian was born on May 26, 1928, in Pontiac, Michigan. He was the middle of 3 children (two girls and himself), born to Levon and Satenig Kevorkian; Armenian immigrants and refugees. Jack had appreciation for his strict upbringing; however he had conflicting religious viewpoints with his parents. At the age of 12, he stopped attending church with his family. He felt that if there were a God who could make his son walk on water, he would also have been able to prevent the Turkish slaughter of his entire extended family (bio.com, 2013). After he debated God's existence, he concluded that there were not...
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...II Composition II Mrs. Shackelford April 12, 2013 Assisted Suicide For many years a debate has been taking place in America. In the 1980’s and the 1990’s, the debate was brought into the public eye by Dr. Jack Kevorkian. During this time period Dr. Kevorkian assisted more than 130 people take their own lives. Dr. Kevorkian fought for the rights of the terminally ill patients, wanting to put an end to their suffering. The question still remains; does a person have the right to take their own life, with the help of a trained, medical professional? If a terminally ill patient wants assistance to end their life, it should be allowed because people have the right to decide what happens in their lives, the government has no right to decide how a person’s life should end, and it is better to have a professional help, if the decision to end one’s life is made. America prides itself on being the land of the free. We have the right to free speech, the right to bear arms, and the right to elect the Politian’s who trample those rights every day. The one right we do not seem to have, is assisted suicide. Dr. Kevorkian fought for the better part of ten years for terminally ill patients that wanted to end their suffering. The District Attornys office would charge Dr. Kevorkian with some degree of murder or homicide after each incident. In 1997, the Oregon lawmakers passed a bill approving doctors to prescribe terminally ill patients, medications that were lethal, and would end the patient’s...
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...Physician Assisted Suicide/Euthanasia: Shouldn't We Have That Choice? Everest University Online – Tampa/Brandon Abstract Physician-assisted suicide/euthanasia has been a heated debate amongst many people and physicians since the 5th century. Most people do not think about their death or how and when they would like to die, if they were terminally ill. Until people start speaking up about their wishes about how and when they want to die, they will continue to slowly fade away and be in pain during that process. There really needs to be someone to step up and finish where Dr. Kevorkian was forced to stop helping people. There are hundreds, if not thousands of people that die every single day, and those people end up suffering because there is nothing, except conventional pain medications, that ease their pain while dying. While these pain medications do help sometimes, people are still suffering, waiting, and dying a slow death. This is why doctor assisted suicide/euthanasia should be legalized because at the end of their lives, most people do not want to suffer. Shouldn't we be Able to Choose how and When to Die? Have you ever thought about the way you would want to die if you were terminally ill? Most people do not think about things like that. However, if you could actually choose how and when you wanted to die, what choice would you make? If you had a terminal illness and knew that you were going to die very soon, would you want your family to watch you be in pain...
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...knock off in an hour, or even watch television (Wolf, 2008).” At this point she knew her father’s condition was not getting any better, that’s when he said he wanted to stop. There are doctors that are comfortable with assisting suicide like Jack Kevorkian, which were known as “Death Doctors”. “Dr. Kevorkian has been known as “Dr. Death” since at least 1956, when he conducted a study photographing patients’ eyes as they died. Results established that blood vessels in the cornea cornea contract and become invisible as the heart stops beating. In a 1958 paper, he suggested that death row inmates be euthanized, and their bodily organs harvested. In 1960, he proposed using condemned prisoners for medical experiments. In 1989, a quadaplegic, too handicapped to kill himself, publicly asked for assistance, and Dr. Kevorkian began tinkering on a suicide machine. But a different patient – Janet Adkins, a 54-year-old with Alzheimer’s – was the first to test the device. It worked. Kevorkian the provided services to at least 45 and possibly more satisfied customers. In 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Americans who want to kill themselves – but are physically unable to do so – have no constitutional right to end their lives Kevorkian was sentenced to 10-25 years in prison, but was paroled in 2007, with failing health and nearing his own...
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...Death with Dignity Act Esther Harris November 29, 2015 Business Law – BA3310 Death with Dignity is a very controversial subject that has spanned many decades and continues to spark great debate from both sides of the subject. Death is a very personal matter, and those who support that law believe that a person should be able to die with dignity if he or she chooses to do so. Those who oppose the law believe that there should not be any human intervention into the process of dying. There are two distinct sides of the debate, but people should have the choice if he or she chooses to do so. Death with Dignity should become a legalized process throughout the United States. HISTORY Death with Dignity laws in several states allow mentally competent, terminally-ill adult residents to voluntarily request and receive a prescription medication, from a physician, so they can die in a peaceful, humane manner in a place and time of their choosing (Death with Dignity, 2015.) In layman’s terms, a person who is eighteen years or older and has received a terminal medical diagnosis, with less than six months to live, can request for a physician to provide him or her with a prescription of pentobarbital, which can be used at the patient’s discretion to end his or her life. Some states require that the patient request the medications in writing and then again verbally, while others only require the patient to make a verbal request. The patient’s primary diagnosis must be validated...
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...hospital with no improvement and is now unable to eat, has lost all control of bodily functions, depressed and continually yells out in agony from the pain she is in. She begs you to help her, that she cannot endure this excruciating pain and miserable life any longer. The doctors tell you there is nothing else they can do for her at this time, that you should keep her comfortable and enjoy her while she is here. How would you feel, what would you do? Euthanasia by definition means the act or practice of killing hopelessly sick or injured individuals (as persons or domestic animals) in a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). Many people are not familiar with this word, but are familiar with the name Dr. Kevorkian, the doctor who helped terminally ill people end their lives. He believed anti-euthanasia was pro- torture. He was reported as saying “I’m trying to knock the medical profession into accepting its responsibilities, and those responsibilities include assisting their patients with death.” (Schneider, Keith, 2011). He was sentenced to over 60 years for his efforts and eventually all his charges were dropped. The debate on legalizing assisted- suicide has been an ongoing issue for decades, but the U.S. government has refused to recognize this as something that needs to be addressed. At this moment Oregon, Washington and Montana are the only states that have legalized euthanasia under limited conditions (ProCon.org, 2012). If we are...
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...that have legalized physician assisted suicide in the US and they are California, Colorado, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and Montana (“State by-State Guide to Physician- Assisted Suicide- Euthanasia- ProCon.org”). On one hand many people say physician assisted suicide is ethical because it is a patient's choice. Terminally ill patients have the right to end their life with a doctor's help because it is the patient's choice. It is a patient's own choice to end their life. (Markus). It is a patient's decision to decide whether they want to end their life with the assistance of a physician. People can choose this route of death so they can die quickly and painlessly (Friedman 12). Dr. Jack Kevorkian was a medical pathologist who helped many terminally ill patients end their lives. Even though Dr. Kevorkian played a role in the patient's death it was their ultimate choice to end their life (“Right to Die). One's life is a gift so it is important to that they choose to end the life they've lived the way they want to. Another reason why Physician assisted suicide is ethical is it ends a person's suffering. Patients who are terminally ill choose physician assisted suicide because it alleviates their pain and ends their suffering (“Right to Die). A person who is constantly suffering from pain wants to end their pain in the easiest, pain free way possible. Markus Andrew states “Helping terminally ill patients to end their lives for the purpose of alleviating intense physical or mental...
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...wrong for anybody else to commit such an act as well. Since taking my class on ethical behavior, I have come to realize that what one believes to be morally correct is not necessarily how another person may feel. This belief is called moral relativism. “Moral relativism is whatever anyone claims to be morally acceptable is morally acceptable, at least for that person” (Ruggiero, 2008). “For years, doctors have been prohibited from assisting patients in taking their own lives. Dr. Jack Kevorkian gained world attention by assisting in several suicides to dying patients; he was sentenced to over 60 years for his efforts, despite the gratitude of the patients and their families. Recent laws in Oregon and the U.K. have started a trend of legalization. But some, most notably the U.S. Attorney General's office, are determined to prevent the laws from going through” (BalancedPolitics.org. (2007). When I was first introduced to the subject of assisted suicide, it was due to a man named Dr. Jack Kevorkian. I couldn’t believe that someone, a doctor no less, would purposely...
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...making or helping someone die, instead of allowing nature to take its course. Basically for advocates of the practice of euthanasia it means killing in the name of compassion. However this view is contradictory to religious beliefs, who are these medical people to meddle in the God’s plans. Euthanasia promotes abuse and gives doctors the right to murder all in the name of ‘compassion’. All proponents in the euthanasia debate will agree that no matter the safe guards put in place around this practice; this process is susceptible to abuse. As Dr. J Forest Witten warned that euthanasia would give a small group of doctors "the power of life and death over individuals who have committed no crime except that of becoming ill or being born, and might lead toward state tyranny and totalitarianism." The only way to safe-guard against such blatant abuses of power, such megalomania, is to keep the practice illegal. An example of this very statement by Dr. J Forest Witten was seen in Pennsylvania, in 1947 when forty-seven year old Ellen Haug admitted having killed her ailing seventy-yearold mother with an overdose of sleeping pills. Her...
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