‘Dr. Death’ Jack Kevorkian dies at age 83



http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/dr-death-jack-kevorkian-dies-at-age-83/2010/12/03/AGhktuHH_story.html

Jack Kevorkian, the feisty doctor who campaigned for the legalization of euthanasia and aided in more than 130 physician-assisted suicides, passed away Friday in a Detroit hospital.

Nicknamed "Dr. Death" by the media, Kevorkian never held back his unconventional views about death and "the right to die."

He even served eight years in prison and was arrested a handful of times for helping his patients commit suicide between 1990 and 2000 -- using carbon monoxide, injections and even a "suicide machine" built from scraps.

He claimed to only assist those who had terminal conditions such as multiple sclerosis, malignant brain tumors and ALS.

Do you support Jack Kevorkian's cause: physician-assisted suicide?

I do support physician-aided suicide. It's just a matter of regulation, conditions and price.

"It was peaceful. He didn't feel a thing," Morganroth told the newspaper. According to the Associated Press, he said nurses played classical music by Kevorkian's favorite composer, Johann Sebastian Bach, before he died."

I'm glad he didn't require his own services because he wouldn't be allowed to get them. Still, that picture of him smiling next to his death contraption looks a little too creepy. He looks like a kid who just got a train set for his birthday.

alan smithee wrote:

"It was peaceful. He didn't feel a thing," Morganroth told the newspaper. According to the Associated Press, he said nurses played classical music by Kevorkian's favorite composer, Johann Sebastian Bach, before he died."

I'm glad he didn't require his own services because he wouldn't be allowed to get them. Still, that picture of him smiling next to his death contraption looks a little too creepy. He looks like a kid who just got a train set for his birthday.

Of course we have no way of knowing what was being said at the moment it was taken but yeah...a little bit.

He was ahead of his time. It's just shameful he was incarcerated. His desire to alleviate suffering & allow people to make the choice for themselves was not only admirable but humane.

Good riddance.

Supernova wrote:

Good riddance.

To me, he's just a murderer with an excuse that's fooled a lot of people. Not humane or admirable. Not really happy that he's dead, but not really going to mourn him as a great humanitarian either.

Wow, I didn't know he died - where have I been? Anyway, I do support physician-assisted suicide. I agree with Dr. K on the "the right to die" stance. If you have to go, why not go peacefully without a pistol in your mouth? I honestly think that Dr. K was in this for the right reasons and that he helped a lot of people come to a peaceful end, and I think that's admirable.

I wouldn't call what he did assisted 'suicide'. But in any case, wow.

It's not murder either.

If you don't want to be misunderstood, don't put up vague comments and cop an attitude when people react to it.

CeCe wrote:

...He was ahead of his time. It's just shameful he was incarcerated. His desire to alleviate suffering & allow people to make the choice for themselves was not only admirable but humane.

He will someday be exonerated by public opinion and be seen as the visionary of our time. We do for animals what we deny to humans. That is mindless, sick and cruel - Oh, we might say Christian, since it is the church that insists humans suffer before they die.

So, we end up with ppl having to make the choice to off their loved one and necessarily doing themself at the same time to avoid life in prison. My wife died of ALS, and it would have been so nice if we could have all said our good bye and let her go gently into that good sleep. But she had to suffer the indignities of muscle loss until her heart was finally silenced.

Nystyle, I'm rolling my eyes so hard, they're about to fall out. If you have anything else you'd like to say, send it to my PM box. Thank you.

Shale wrote:

Nystyle709 wrote:

I wouldn't call what he did assisted 'suicide'. But in any case, wow.

Then, precisely what would YOU call it?

That was a rather vague response.

Supernova wrote:

Good riddance.

Am I to assume that you did not like Dr. Kevorkian for some reason?

Not particularly, I'm just a mean person.

Supernova wrote:

Shale wrote:

Then, precisely what would YOU call it?

That was a rather vague response.



Am I to assume that you did not like Dr. Kevorkian for some reason?

Not particularly, I'm just a mean person.

Quote :

According to my mother I ALWAYS look like I'm in a bad mood.

So she be right.

Chris wrote:

Do you support Jack Kevorkian's cause: physician-assisted suicide?

In cases that are terminal, with the dying patient requesting to be put out of their pain, I sure do.

Murder is to kill someone with malice afterthought, which is in no way what Kevorkian did. Anyone who considers him a "murderer" has no idea what the term means.

^ +1

I hate that "Dr death" crap

He helped terminally ill people who were in physical agony and psychological torment AND who personally came to him wanting his medical assistance to end their life. It isn't as though he was sniping people from tall buildings.

A good man he was.

I actually got to meet the man -- he was tried in our city for one of his "projects" and the case ended up in a mistrial due to the antics of his attorney.

He was one of the creepiest persons I ever met; he also seemed to enjoy people dying to the point of watching physical reactions, documenting them with photos, etc. It was his own actions that resulted in him going to prison for he went from assisting people to die to killing one.

As for what is right or wrong; I watched my sister, grandmother, and a brother-in-law die of cancer. There was no dignity at the end of their life and I wish it had been legal to give them the medication and allow them to end their lives.

I will give Kevorkian a compliment that he raised the issue; I just think his zealousness and methods did as much damage as it helped.