Kevorkian is best known for his assisted suicide advocacy and claimed to have assisted in the deaths of at least 130 people. During the 90's, various prosecutors attempted to convict him for assisting in suicides but were unsuccessful. The Board of Health suspended the retired pathologist’s medical license in 1991 but Kevorkian wasn’t stopped until he gave the CBS television show “60 Minutes” a video of himself euthanizing Thomas Youk by injecting him with deadly drugs in 1998. This led to a second-degree murder conviction and a sentence of 10-25 years in jail. He served more than 8 years in jail and was paroled in 2007 after promising not to assist in more suicides. In response to Kevorkian’s actions, the state of Michigan banned assisted suicide in 1998.
While he was often portrayed as a caring doctor who wanted to help suffering, terminally ill patients end their lives; Kevorkian was not concerned if his victims were terminally ill or not. He was an advocate for death on demand. A 1997 Detroit Free Press investigation found that of 47 deaths which Kevorkian was publicly linked, 60 percent of his victims were not terminally ill and some were not even sick or in pain. Kevorkian also often failed to consult psychiatrists or pain specialists to see if the individuals who hoped to kill themselves were depressed or their pain could be properly treated.
Always a media darling, Kevorkian’s ghoulish focus on human experimentation was hardly ever reported. Assisted suicide and euthanasia were only a means to an end for Kevorkian. His true obsession was experimenting on humans while they were in the process of dying. Assisted suicide and euthanasia were merely what he saw as the most convenient ways to make his dreams of “obitiary” become a reality. In his early career, he called for organs to be harvested from death row inmates and would transfer blood from cadavers into living patients.
In his book Prescription Medicide, Kevorkian wrote (on page 214):
“I feel it is only decent and fair to explain my ultimate aim¼It is not simply to help suffering or doomed persons kill themselves–that is merely the first step, an early distasteful professional obligation (now called medicide) that nobody in his or her right mind would savor.
What I find most satisfying is the prospect of making possible the performance of invaluable experiments or other beneficial medical acts under conditions that this first unpleasant step can help establish–in a word, obitiatry...”
Or in other words, what Kevorkian found most fascinating was the prospect of human experimentation. Remember Kevorkian’s own words the next time someone portrays him a gentle man concerned with helping those in need.
From its inception Right to Life of Michigan has been opposed to the social acceptance of assisted suicide and euthanasia. Accepting these forms of intentional killing reflects a complete disrespect for the dignity of each person and for each person's right to life. Assisted suicide and euthanasia embody a literally fatalistic response to illness and disability -- offering death as a solution to the challenges of life.
For more information about assisted suicide and euthanasia, please visit Right to Life of Michigan’s web site at www.rtl.org.
