Jack Kevorkian
Jack Kevorkian (born May 26, 1928) is a controversial American medical doctor who is most famous for his vocal support for the "right to die", and for assisting the suicides of over 100 people. He is currently in prison in Michigan.Dr. Kevorkian's assisted suicides occurred from 1990 to 1998. In each case, he hooked the client up to a machine he created for this purpose. After being hooked up, the client would push a button to end his life. Two such assisted suicides were by means of a lethal injection machine, and the rest were by machines that would kill the client by means of a gas mask fed by a canister of carbon monoxide.
Dr. Kevorkian sought publicity for himself and his euthanasia program, in order to stir public debate on the right to die. Kevorkian was charged with murder in Michigan a number of times. He was acquitted or had a mistrial in four criminal trials, and judges dismissed some other charges against him; in some of these cases, lower courts declared that in the United States, there is a constitutionally-based right to die. In 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the states do have the right to outlaw doctor-assisted suicide.
On March 26, 1999, a jury in Michigan found Dr. Kevorkian guilty of second-degree murder and delivery of a controlled substance, for administering a lethal injection to a terminally ill man. The incident had been videotaped, and aired on the September 17, 1998 edition of 60 Minutes. Kevorkian was sentenced to 10 to 25 years in prison. His appeals have been exhausted, and he will be eligible for parole in mid-2005.
Dr. Kevorkian's activities did stir debate, and bring the right to die into the spotlight of media attention. At least partly as a result of this attention, in 1994, and again in 1997, voters in Oregon passed initiatives authorizing doctors to prescribe lethal doses of drugs to terminally ill patients who want to die. These initiatives have been attacked by the federal government and other groups since their passage.
Dr. Kevorkian's supporters include those who generally support the legalization of the euthanasia or suicide of a terminally ill patient, especially when the patient is in pain. Studies have indicated that most doctors seem to support a terminally ill patient volunteering to end his own life.
Criticism of Dr. Kevorkian has been heavy. Some critics categorically oppose euthanasia or assisted suicide. Beyond these criticisms, critics have noted that Dr. Kevorkian has primarily practiced as a pathologist, has relatively little experience with live patients, has had all his licenses to practice medicine revoked, and in the end is not equipped to evaluate whether a prospective client is clinically depressed and therefore, according to accepted medical (and legal) thought, incapable of deciding to end his own life. The majority of his clients were not terminally ill when they committed suicide.