Too zealous by half
Dr. Death is dead. But how many will miss him? For many years, Jack Kevorkian was the West's leading champion of a terminal patient's right to die by means of physician-assisted suicide. But over time, his self-promotion and macabre enthusiasm for his métier became liabilities. Though his cause had merit, Dr. Kervorkian did much to set it back.
He started off on solid ground. A passionate believer in the right-to-die for those suffering in great agony, the Michigan pathologist offered "death counselling" and devised elaborate ways to both deliver his merciful service and avoid entangling himself in the law. He devised two separate devices that would administer either a lethal dose of a medically controlled substance or of carbon monoxide gas. But, critically, Dr. Kevorkian only set up the devices. It was up to the individual seeking death to activate them, something no more involved than flicking a switch or pushing a button. In this way, he rendered controversial but arguably merciful aid to people who actively had sought his help.
If he'd kept to that, Dr. Kevorkian might have not only avoided the legal trouble that brought him down, but also could have continued to be a powerful, passionate advocate for the right to die. But seemingly emboldened and radicalized by all the press attention and official scrutiny, which included the suspension of his medical licence, Dr. Kevorkian became arrogant, and in the fall of 1998, went too far.
Dr. Kevorkian had been asked by Michigan-resident ALS disease sufferer Thomas Youk to help him die in 1998. Mr. Youk, crippled by the advance state of his disease, was unable to activate even the simplest of Dr. Kevorkian's death devices, so Dr. Kevorkian directly administered a lethal injection -according to his lawyer, the first time he took a life by his own hand, something that even those who had been inclined to defend him found difficult to accept. Dr. Kevorkian also videotaped the killing of Mr. Youk, and released the film to the documentary program 60 Minutes, which aired it several weeks later. Dr. Kevorkian dared the police to arrest him. The police obliged, and after a disastrous attempt to act as his own legal counsel and turn his trial into a platform for arguing the merits of right-to-die legislation, Dr. Kevorkian was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to 10-to-25 years in prison.
The episode was devastating to his moral credibility. Even those who believe that end-of-life assistance should be legal do not consider it laudable. It is at best a necessary evil, the best of bad options, something only fathomable if the alternative is prolonged physical agony without hope of eventual recovery. Dr. Kervorkian's seeming enthusiasm for his work therefore came off as creepy. And he became the punch line for lurid talkshow jokes.
Paroled in 2007, after eight years behind bars, Dr. Kevorkian seemed a broken, humbled man. Seriously ill with Hepatitis C, contracted accidentally while conducting medical research decades earlier, he promised to have no further involvement in the deaths of others, and to confine his role to advocating for the legal right to die. He died on Friday morning at the age of 83.
As our population ages, there is every reason to expect more debate about whether patients should have the right to opt for death, and those millions of sufferers will need a spokesman. They can do better than Jack Kevorkian.
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