Jack Kevorkian's Argument Against Euthanasia

CONTEXT

Euthanasia has been around long before Jack Kevorkian and so have laws against it. In the 500 BC-16th Century AD many ancient Greeks and Romans not only supported euthanasia but illegally practiced it:"Although the Hippocratic Oath prohibited doctors from giving 'a deadly drug to anybody, not even if asked for,' or from .,suggesting such a course of action, few ancient Greek or Roman physicians followed the oath faithfully" (ProCon.org). In fact one of the first recorded uses of euthanasia was in the 17th century. In the 17th century many early American colonies decided to make laws against euthanasia. For hundreds of years the Anglo American law is a law against suicide and assisted suicide and for the most part people followed

these laws,” For example, the legislators of the Providence Plantations, which would later become Rhode Island, declared, in 1647, that '[s]elf murder is by all agreed to be the most unnatural”(proCon.org). This law also stated that only the king can decide if you have the right to die or not. The 17th and 18th centuries were one of the first times where people started to go against the church and deny their laws on euthanasia:"No serious discussion of euthanasia was even possible in Christian Europe until the eighteenth-century Enlightenment. Suddenly, writers assaulted the church's authoritative teaching on all matters, including euthanasia and suicide.” (proCon.org). This is when people outside of the Christian church started to question whether euthanasia should be legal or not.
In the 1870s a man named Samuel Williams openly and publically advocated for euthanasia: “ During the late 1800s, Williams' euthanasia proposal received serious attention in the medical journals and at scientific meetings." He proposed a drug that raised the pain of terminally ill patients to the point to where they would die (ProCon.org). Because this did not kill anyone instantly many physicians said that it is okay to raise pain “but not to hasten death”(ProCon.org).
In the early to mid 1900’s Ohio held one of the first court cases about euthanasia in the United States of America. The case was held to release a bill that would “legalize euthanasia”(ProCon.org) in Ohio but was ultimately “defeated”(ProCon.org) by the Ohio legislature. Even though the case was held does not mean that immediately after they continued to fight for euthanasia rights. In Fact in 1906 the public interest in euthanasia ended. Although in 1935 “The Voluntary Euthanasia Legislation Society (VELS)”(ProCon.org). Was founded by a man named C. Killick Millard who advocated for euthanasia in England. On March 31, 1976 a 21 year old name Karen Quinlan was diagnosed with an irreversible coma:“The New Jersey Supreme Court rules in 1976 that Karen Quinlan can be detached from her respirator. “ (proCon.org). This case led to many people joining the fight for legalizing euthanasia. In some people’s opinion this could be considered as one of the first acts of legal euthanasia. Even though at this point in time euthanasia was still illegal.
Kevorkian was born on May 26, 1928, in Pontiac, Michigan. Kevorkian is the second child born out of his two other sisters. His parents are Armenian immigrants and were very religious: “ As a child, he questioned their beliefs and stopped attending church altogether at the age of 12"(Jack Kevorkian). In school Jack Kevorkian preferred “artistic activities”(Jack Kevorkian) over sports and loved to “debate”(Jack Kevorkian) with his teachers. In school “He taught himself German and Japanese"(Jack Kevorkian). Kevorkian graduated from Pontiac Central High school where he decided to go to the University of Michigan to be an engineer but only in a matter of months his interest switched to biology. After 4 years in college he decided to attend medical school at the University of Michigan where his interest in death started to peak. When Kevorkian graduated from college his first professional job came during the Korean war in 1953 where he served as a medical officer for a year. He became obsessed with the concept of death and even photographed the eyes of dying patients to capture the moment of death. In 1958-1959 Dr. Kevorkian wrote a paper titled, "terminal human experimentation"(Jack Kevorkian) which mentioned the idea of using prisoners on death row for lab experiments and using dead prisoners organs for experiments and transplants as well. He was forced to leave the University of Michigan because everyone refused to support his research. Soon after,“He spent many years working at different hospitals as a pathologist during 1960s and 70s before opening his own clinic in Detroit”(Jack Kevorkian). There he began to focus on what soon is to be known as his life's work, euthanasia. In the 1980s, “He placed an advertisement in the newspapers in 1987, offering his service in "’death counseling’"(Jack Kevorkian). One of Kevorkian’s first cases was a 54 year old woman who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Kevorkian was charged with murder but the charges were dropped due to legal reasons. Kevorkian was thought to have been a part of over 120 deaths in his career: "I am the lady who called you who has M.S. ... I shot myself in the chest, not knowing exactly where the heart was”(Howard Chua-Eoan). This lady continues to explain how the bullet missed her heart and how she did “not look forward to becoming a vegetable”(Howard Chua-Eoan) so that why she decided to call Dr. Kevorkian. This woman became one of Dr. Kevorkian’s many patients.

THE CASE
Dr.

Kevorkian earned his way to jail by doing what he believed was right." A Michigan jury last month found Dr Jack Kevorkian guilty of second degree murder in the death of Thomas Youk”(Fred Charatan). Thomas was diagnosed with amyotrophic and did not want to suffer so he called Dr. Kevorkian to give him a peaceful death. Because of this murder, "A Michigan judge sentenced Dr. Jack Kevorkian on Tuesday to 10 to 25 years in prison..."(CNN) He was not arrested the first time he ever assisted suicide someone. He actually wasn't arrested until years later when he broadcasted a man killing himself. Dr. Kevorkian believed that assisted suicide is right and should be an available option to anyone. When he was arrested the police chief stated, "You had the audacity to go on national television, show the world what you did, and dare the legal system to stop you," she said. "Well, sir, consider yourself stopped"(CNN). The police was never able to get proof of him doing the crimes until then.” Three trials ended in acquittal and a fourth ended in a mistrial. In all the previous cases, Dr Kevorkian had violated laws against assisted suicide by helping patients give themselves a fatal injection through a so called suicide machine"(Fred Charatan). In his trial he was not able to convince the judge it was not his choice but the husbands and

wives.
IMPLICATIONS
Even though Dr.

Kevorkian is gone his will and beliefs still live on inside others. Dr. Kevorkian died at William Beaumont Hospital where he suffered many kidney problems. Washington D. C is the seventh jurisdiction to legalize euthanasia:“Congress can still vote to overturn the law or attempt to defund it. Even Though Congress can defund euthanasia laws it will be much harder than it was for them to allow euthanasia.(Procon.org). Even though Dr. Kevorkian had many followers some did not agree with everything he did. In a time where many debates about euthanasia heated up, “many experts and advocates say Dr. Kevorkian, who claims to have helped more than 130 people die”(Pam Belluck) only made it harder for them to legalize euthanasia. Some people believe the way Dr. Kevorkian handled assisted suicide was not right: “They say his provocative style might have attracted some supporters and raised awareness of the issue, but it also alienated some people who might have been sympathetic”(Pam Belluck). Even though many people supported him there were still those that believed that what he was doing was not right. They believed that his illegal approach made people realize the positive and negatives about euthanasia. Especially since in today’s society most parents usually teach their kids that going to prison and breaking the law is bad and anyone that breaks the laws are also bad. This will negatively effect the cause of euthanasia because it will be these kids who are going to

grow up and choose if they think that what kevorkian says is right, and choose euthanasia or if they think he is wrong and fight against it.

Work Cited
Chua-Eoan, Howard. “The Life and Deaths of Jack Kevorkian (1928–2011).” Time Magazine,
June2011. Web. 4/5/2017.
“Kevorkian gets 10 to 25 years in prison”, CNN, April 13, 1999. Web .4/5/17.
“ProCon.org.” Article, Web. 4/4/2017.
“Jack Kevorkian.” Article, Web. 4/13/17.
Fred Charatan. “Dr Kevorkian found guilty of second degree murder.” Article, April 10 1999.
Web. 4/13/17.
Keith Schneider. “Dr. Jack Kevorkian Dies at 83; A Doctor Who Helped End Lives.” Article,
June 3 2011. Web. 4/13/17.
“A general History of Euthanasia.” Article, Web. 4/18/17.
Pam Belluck. “Assisted-Suicide Advocates See Gains in Kevorkian Case.” Article, March 30th
1999. Web. 4/20/17.