Kevorich Vs Hyde

It was apparent that Dr. Kevorkian had an obsession with death even in his residency, where he often requested to work the night shift because more patients died at night. It was during his residency where he first acquired the nickname Dr. Death. He experimented with photographing the eyes of

Physician assisted suicide was brought to mainstream attention in the 1990’s due to Dr. Kevorkian’s “suicide machine," who claims to have assisted over 100 suicide deaths of terminally ill patients with Alzheimer’s disease (Dickinson, p. 8). In the early 1990’s, for the first time in United States history the issue was brought to the voting polls in California, Washington, and Oregon (Dickinson, p. 9). The bill was passed in Oregon; legally allowing physicians to facilitate death of the terminally ill, but voters fails to pass the bill in Washington and California (Dickinson, p. 9). In 2008 voters in Washington State passed the Washington Death with Dignity Act (Dickinson, p. 277). Today

Facts: The state of Washington passed a law that made it a crime to assist in a suicide that takes place within the state. The crime is listed as “promoting a suicide attempt” and is classified as a felony offense. In order for a person to be convicted of this crime it has to be proven that the defendant knowingly caused or aided another person in an attempt to commit suicide. In January 1994 Dr. Glucksberg along with four other doctors, three terminally ill patients who died before the case reached the

Secondly, Dr. Kevorkian used the helpless and the powerless people. Though they never say it explicitly, people with incurable diseases come to doctors to seek for professional suggestion and especially moral support. True that Kevorkian gave his terminally ill patients his version of professional suggestion, but the suggestion he gave clashed from the moral support they desperately needed. Position yourself on this kind of situation. If you had a friend or relative who got incurable disease(s), would you suggest him to see Dr. Kevorkian? Would you suggest him to die? As a fellow human being, and especially as a doctor, Kevorkian shouldn’t have discouraged his patients, particularly the hopeless ones. Moreover, according to an article on the New York Times, at the end of his own life, as he weakened each day in the hospital, Jack Kevorkian couldn’t take the advantages he had offered to others. “This is something I would want,” he once said. He should have assured his patients the same way he would do to himself. If not, he should have at least encouraged them with the positive thoughts, told them to focus on the positive things about life and not to give up.

Dr. Kevorkian did his procedures in Michigan where at the time, did not have any laws against physician-assisted suicide. Also in the same year continued to assist patients. One patient in particular, Thomas Youk suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease requested the assistance of Dr. Kevorkian had is procedure televised on the CBS television news program 60 Minutes. The Michigan legislature enacted a law making assisted suicide a felony punishable by a maximum five year prison sentence or a $10,000 fine soon after. This meant Kevorkian's could be charged for his previous acquittals. On March 26, 1999 Dr. Kevorkian was convicted of second degree murder.

Even if assisted suicide were to be permitted under some conditions, a second issue is whether physicians should ever participate in it. This is where the moral and ethical issues arise? Physicians may not want to have the burden of essentially killing a human being. A life is sacred and doctors avoid putting patients in severe pain. The law can get involved if a physician does administer this lethal dose of medication to their patient. For example, Dr. Jack Kevorkian was arrested for performing physician-assisted suicide on his patients. He clearly did not view assisted dying as an immoral type of procedure. “The site of most activity surrounding physician-assisted suicide is Michigan because Dr. Kevorkian practiced physician-assisted suicide there despite its illegal status. From 1990 to 1999, when he was convicted and imprisoned, Kevorkian assisted in more than 130 physician-assisted suicides” (Grosswald, 2002).

Ezekiel Emanuel once said, “Physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia have been profound ethical issues confronting doctors since the birth of Western medicine, more than 2,000 years ago.” Physician assisted suicide (PAS) should be available as a dignified option for the terminally ill because it can be built in to the palliative care plan formulated by patient and Doctor, may alleviate some medical costs for the incurable, and it’s a moderated and humane way to end a person’s suffering.

wrote how he was a doctor and was one of the first notable physicians to aid in suicide for his patients that wanted it. In 1989 Kevorkian aided in Janet Adkins suicide, his first patient to do so. After many years of helping his patients in this way, Kevorkian got in trouble in 1998 when he got caught administering a lethal injection to Thomas York, a patient who was suffering from Lou Gehrig’s disease and wanted to die. Kevorkian got caught because he videotaped himself preforming the act because he wanted it to be broadcasted on 60 Minutes. Dr. Kevorkian was sentenced to 10-25 years in prison because of that event. He was considered an instrument of death who is a threat to the public (203-204). Some people see Kevorkian as a hero, but in reality, his practice of physician-assisted suicide is immensely wrong. The use of physicians to end one’s life is morally wrong and should not be legalized.

Facts: The State of Washington is the Petitioner in this case along with the Attorney General. The Respondents are Washington medical physicians. The physicians in this case periodically treated patients that were terminally ill. The physicians claimed that they would provide assistance for the patients in ending their lives if it were not for Washington State’s ban on assisted suicides,

. The bill was shot down by more than half of the voters. Many have wondered why Michigan voters were so against this bill. In an article written by Yale Kamisar, he stated that, “the reason why the Michigan ballot went so wrong was not due to the terminally ill having the right to die, but people were questioning how it would work in a state where millions didn’t have health insurance, how it would affect family members and their dying loved one’s view on life, and one’s view on the quickness of their approaching death” (Kamisar, 1997). Another event that occurred in the Michigan that rocked voter’s views on the topic of physician-assisted suicide was the case of Dr. Jack Kevorkian. Dr. Kevorkian is a well-known figure as he helped put assisted

Dr. Jack Kevorkian more commonly known as Dr. Death is greatly known for his opinion that euthanasia should be legalized and his work with patients seeking help. He was very important in showing euthanasia and voicing his opinion on the subject so the public could not ignore the importance of the matter. Dr. Kevorkian was said to have been involved with 130 suicides by patients who wanted to end their own lives (Nicol and Wylie 17). He had two machines he used to help the patients, one an injection and the other a mask, however both machines were operated by the patient and although Dr. Kevorkian was taken to court many times for these he was not convicted because the patient was in control. He was very careful as to not actually commit the act himself until he was contacted by Thomas Youk, a young with Lou Gheric’s disease; Lou Gheric’s disease is when the muscle stop working and eventually the patient chokes to death. Tom’s condition prevented him from actually operating the machines and therefore Dr. Kevorkian decided that he would operate the machine himself because he cared greatly about all his patients and could not let Tom live in his constant fear (Nicol and Wylie 11). Dr. Kevorkian taped Tom’s wishes and then himself hooking up the machine and pushing the button to inject the drugs. He then proceed to

Although a patient’s choice of suicide symbolizes an expression of self-determination, there is a great distinction between denying life-sustaining treatments and demanding life-ending treatments. The right to self-determination is a right to allow or reject offered treatments, not to choose what should be offered. The right to refuse life-sustaining interventions does not correlate with a right to force others to hasten their death. The inability of physicians to inhibit death does not mean that physicians are allowed to help induce death.

Dr. Jack Kevorkian was charged with second-degree murder and served an eight year prison sentence. (Fridstein. 1). This accomplished physician graduated from the University of Michigan with an impressively high IQ. He was a writer, inventor, movie producer and classical composer. (Kevorkian). Why would a man so intelligent and successful end up in jail for murder? Well believe or not he purposely challenged the legal system in a one man crusade to ignite a national discussion on the subjects of assisted suicide, Euthanasia and one’s constitutional right to choose. Euthanasia is a medical procedure that involves a person being induced with a soothing, relaxing medicine that allows them a peaceful passing. Dr. Kevorkian’s attorney, Geoffrey Fieger, summed it up best when he said, "We’re just talking about the right not of children and not of mentally incompetent people but the right of mentally competent adults to make decisions about their own bodies as to how much suffering they have to undergo.” (Kevorkian). Euthanasia is not for people experiencing temporary illness or unhappiness. It’s for people who are imprisoned by their own unbearable physical pain for the rest of their lives with no way out. Is it fair to not give those people a choice? Is it fair to make them slowly deteriorate while losing their dignity? I think not. That is why I support euthanasia being legalized, “Dying is not a crime.” (Fridstein. 1).

I agree with the court decision that in any condition it is crime to assist a suicide. No one has right to take a decision about other life. This types of situation arises when there is a lack of advance directives paperwork done with the patient when the patient was in a stable condition. The advance directive provides an overview of evolving legal landscape of end- of- life decision making generally, specifically, and identifies the current challenges and opportunity for promoting the goal and advance care planning (Sabatino, 2007). Advance directive not only help to know the patient decision on end of life situation but also help the health care provider to take decision on the following condition.

“Active euthanasia defines the practice where death is caused by direct administration of a lethal substance” (Sayers, 2005). Dr. Jack Kevorkian is a physician well known for his cases of physician assisted suicide. “In his writings and statements, Kevorkian advocates a society that allows euthanasia for the dying, the disabled, the mentally ill, infants with birth defects and comatose adults; and he sanctions experiments prior to their death and organ harvesting.” (Betzold, 1997). Many other physicians and also nurses have performed euthanasia causing public alarm that some cases are actually murder. In one such case a physician and his nurse, Dr. James Gallant decided to take a Ms. Clarietta Day life into his own hands: “Day collapsed on the phone while calling 911 in the early morning of March 22. She was taken to the hospital and diagnosed with a subarachnoid hemorrhage (burst blood vessel in the brain), a condition that is invariably fatal. Sometime before she died, Day had filled out an advance directive, which included instructions from August 1995, in which she wrote that should she become unconscious, she wished to be kept alive for at least forty-eight hours. However, following the diagnosis, Day received painkillers every five to ten minutes for a four-hour period, even though there was no documentation that Day was in discomfort or agitated. She was removed from a respirator and had a magnet applied to her