Kevorkian Essay Essay Research Paper Jack Kevorkian

Kevorkian Essay Essay, Research Paper

Jack Kevorkian is one of America’s most controversial people. Since 1989 he has aided in the death of over one hundred people, some as young as twenty-one. Kevorkian has used three methods for assisting in the suicides of his “patients”. His original death machine was “execution by lethal injection, except you do it yourself.” This death machine was simply a metal pole with bottles containing drug solutions. A needle was inserted into the arm of the “patient” and the flow of saline started. A switch would need to be hit in order to start the death process. First, a solution of sedatives began, followed by a paralyzing drug. Then potassium chloride would stop the heart, causing death. Kevorkian’s second machine was very similar to the first one, but it had fewer moving parts and did not include the paralyzing drug. Kevorkian’s third machine was very different from the previous two. It consisted of a mask to be placed over the face which was connected by tubing to a canister of carbon monoxide gas. This new machine would cause death from carbon monoxide poisoning. By using these three contraptions, Kevorkian assisted in the deaths of over one-hundred people by delivering a controlled substance to them and should be held criminally accountable for his actions. Kevorkian has entered himself into medical fields in which he has no training or familiarity with, has helped people with no terminal illness commit suicide along with many others who would not be seen as competent enough to make appropriate decisions. Many of Kevorkian’s “patients” could have lived for many more enjoyable years.

Most doctors are heavily trained before they can practice medicine in a specific area, but Dr. Kevorkian has no credentials whatsoever which would qualify him to deal with depressed or dying people. When asked about his medical career, Kevorkian once said: “Well, it’s never been going well. I had an erratic practice…I had so many controversial topics on my resume, that people were just frightened to death of me. And it was hopeless to get a position.” With the exception of his residency and his military service in the 1950s, he had had no clinical experience with live patients prior to his assisted suicides. Most of his professional experience has been in the field of pathology (dealing with dead bodies and body parts). In addition, he has no training or expertise in diagnosing or treating depression, and has no experience in the fields of internal medicine, geriatrics, psychiatry and neurology. He has said that the decision about who is worthy to use his death machine is based on his medical expertise , but he has admitted that he is not qualified to practice medicine, even as a general practitioner. In addition to not having the credentials to practice medicine on the depressed or terminally ill, Kevorkian does not even have a license to practice medicine at all. In 1991 his Michigan license was suspended and in 1993 his California license was also suspended. According to the California Attorney General’s office, Kevorkian is “fundamentally unfit to practice medicine.”

One main fallacy of those who support Kevorkian is the belief that his main goal is to stop the pain that his “patients” are experiencing. The media has often portrayed Kevorkian as a doctor just trying to help those with terminal illnesses. But the fact is that is that helping the terminally ill is not Kevorkian’s primary objective. He has specifically stated that the alleviation of pain and suffering is only a “minor benefit” in his overall scheme of things. His ultimate goal is not to help the “doomed” person, and has described this “minor benefit” as only the first step which will lead to his goal. Kevorkian’s major goal is the establishment of deadly human experimentation. Kevorkian has even drawn up extensive plans for these death centers and has divided the state of Michigan state into eleven killing zones. In each of these killing zones he wants to establish death houses run by “untouchables” where even someone as young as eighteen could go to commit suicide. Under his guidance he believes that the “untouchables” would be “incorruptible.” He has proposed an “auction market for available organs” taken from those who submit themselves to these death centers. It is clearly evident that the motives behind Kevorkian’s “mercy killings” are not only to alleviate the pain and suffering of his “patients”, but rather to begin extensive experimentation on humans, an act which has unquestionably been deemed unethical.

Kevorkian does not limit his services to the terminally ill who are not depressed. In most proposals to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide “terminally ill” is defined as meaning a life expectancy of six months or less. Yet the majority of Jack Kevorkian’s “patients” did not fall within this meaning of “terminally ill.” In response to this Kevorkian has defined terminal illness as “any disease that curtails life even for a day.” He adds that, if a person is depressed over illness or disability, the depression becomes irrelevant. Published reports and court records clearly show that the majority of Kevorkian’s “patients” did not fall within the generally accepted definition of “terminally ill” (life expectancy of six months or less). Some reportedly could have lived for many more months or even for many years. In many of his “patients” other factors may have