This paper is about Dr. Kevorkian. He was a man who during the 1990s caused a stir by performing physician-assisted suicides to patients who chose to die. His patients all had disabilities like Lou Gehrig's disease and Alzheimer's disease, and their families agreed. The state, however, decided against the practice and locked Kevorkian up when he helped someone commit suicide in 1998.
Kevorkian
Dr. Kevorkian
The act of suicide has historically been considered a tragic act that cannot be forgiven in Abrahamic religions. In other cultures, such as in Japan, suicide has actually had traditional purposes. Samurai, for example, were expected to commit 'seppuku', a process of slowly cutting oneself open in the stomach, in order to save face for their family for their losing a battle. For the purposes of Dr. Kevorkian, however, who operated in the United States, his determination to provide assisted suicides led to many of his patients countering the official doctrine of the state as well as the church, of suicide as a negative thing which should be discouraged and made illegal.
The legend of Dr. Kevorkian began at the University of Michigan medical school, where the young doctor began to think about 'the determination of death', or the ability to choose to die. He published his work in 1956, and went on to unsuccessfully achieve a career in medicine and movie making. Thirty years later, in 1990, Dr. Kevorkian conducts his first assisted suicide, of one Janet Adkins suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Dr. Kevorkian is a doctor who understands what his role is to patients. It is his responsibility to take care of a patient under any circumstances, and to carry out the wishes of the patient whether they choose a beneficial operation or not. Free will is the guiding force of Dr. Kevorkian's commitment to one's ability to choose to die a calm and peaceful death. The legal question of what Dr. Kevorkian did was elevated all the way to the level of the Supreme Court in 1996. The Supreme Court decided to uphold the decision against Dr. Kevorkian, which secured the decision by the state that death could not legally be given, even with the consent of the patient, by any assisted practice or operation. This decision effectively ended the ability of Dr. Kevorkian to continue his practice.
The question of assisted suicide even went before the voters of Michigan in 1998, deciding to reject a proposal to legalize physician-assisted suicide. This decision made final the legislative process of what Dr. Kevorkian was performing. Any further physician-assisted suicide by Dr. Kevorkian would be seen as murder by the state and he would be punished accordingly. Unfortunately, Dr. Kevorkian attempted to test the system that had been placed against him, and he performed another physician-assisted suicide in the case of Thomas Youk. Youk, suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease, died in 1998, and Kevorkian was sentenced to 10-25 years in prison, with the ability to appeal. The doctor was forced to end his one-man practice of physician-assisted suicide in the state of Michigan.
Physician-assisted suicide is not as harmful to society as society believes that it is. Many of the patients seeking such an extreme end to their lives have very little to live for, and often suffer intense pain from incurable ailments. What Dr. Kevorkian was doing has been portrayed as a moral concern, when in fact it is purely a scientific decision to end a life that is incapable of functioning at an acceptable degree of health. There is no moral question, but rather a purely logical one, of whether human life is more precious than the reason of man, or if mankind is capable enough of making the correct decision of ending a life that ceases to be useful. There is nothing for Americans to worry about if people are making this decision to end their lives, these decisions should not be the concern of common people, but only of the individual and physician involved. Even families should only have limited knowledge of this practice, but those families that do choose to allow physician-assisted suicide should be allowed to carry out their wish despite the demands of the state.
Those who are against assisted suicide often cite God's will in their decision, drawing from the Bible various teachings against the act. This belief does not explain the action of the United States making suicide illegal, however, since the state has always been separate from the church. Those who are against Dr. Kevorkian usually play the part of society, while those who are with Dr. Kevorkian think of the patients first. It is these individual's desires to die peacefully and predictably, and it is Dr. Kevorkian's will to fulfill these demands. The government does not need to interfere with this transaction of life, as choice should be the ultimate goal for any human who values freedom and liberty over control.
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