Jacob “Jack” Kevorkian ( /kɛˈvɔrkiːɛn/;[2] May 26, 1928 – June 3, 2011[3]) was an American pathologist, right-to-die activist, painter, composer and instrumentalist. He is best known for publicly championing a terminal patient’s right to die via physician-assisted suicide; he said he assisted at least 130 patients to that end. He famously said “dying is not a crime”.[4] Beginning in 1999, Kevorkian served eight years of a 10-to-25-year prison sentence for second-degree murder. He was released on parole on June 1, 2007, on condition he would not offer suicide advice to any other person.[5] As an oil painter and a jazz musician, Kevorkian marketed limited quantities of his visual and musical artwork to the public. Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2.1 Detroit Free Press report 2.2 Art career 3 Trials 4 Conviction and imprisonment 5 Activities after his release from prison 5.1 2008 Congressional race 6 Death 7 Selected publications 8 See also 9 References 10 External links [edit] Early life Kevorkian was born in Pontiac, Michigan to Armenian immigrants . His father Levon was born in the village of Passen, near the ancient Armenian city of Garin, and his mother Satenig was born in the village of Govdun, near Sepastia.[6] His father moved from Turkey in 1912 and made his way to Pontiac, Michigan, where he found work at an automobile foundry. Satenig fled the Armenian Genocide, finding refuge with relatives in Paris, and eventually reuniting with her brother in Pontiac. Levon and Satenig met through the Armenian community in their city, where they married and began their family. The couple welcomed a daughter, Margaret, in 1926, followed by son Jacob — who later earned the nickname “Jack” from an American teacher who misread the birth certificate[1] — and, finally, third child Flora.[7] Kevorkian graduated from Pontiac Central High School with honors in 1945, at the age of 17. In 1952, he graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor.[8][9][10] [edit] Career In the 1980s, Kevorkian wrote a series of articles for the German journal Medicine and Law that laid out his thinking on the ethics of euthanasia. Kevorkian started advertising in Detroit newspapers in 1987 as a physician consultant for “death counseling.” His first public assisted suicide was in 1990, of Janet Adkins, an elderly woman diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 1989. He was charged with murder, but charges were dropped on December 13, 1990 because there were no Michigan laws outlawing suicide or medically assisted suicide.[11] However, in 1991 the State of Michigan revoked Kevorkian’s medical license and made it clear that given his actions, he was no longer permitted to practice medicine or to work with patients.[12] Between 1990 and 1998, Kevorkian assisted in the deaths of 130 terminally ill people, according to his lawyer Geoffrey Fieger. In each of these cases, the individuals themselves allegedly took the final action which resulted in their own deaths. Kevorkian allegedly assisted only by attaching the individual to a euthanasia device that he had made. The individual then pushed a button which released the drugs or chemicals that would end his or her own life. Two deaths were assisted by means of a device which delivered the euthanizing drugs mechanically through an I.V. Kevorkian called it a “Thanatron” (death machine).[13] Other people were assisted by a device which employed a gas mask fed by a canister of carbon monoxide which was called “Mercitron” (mercy machine).[citation needed] [edit] Detroit Free Press report According to a report by the Detroit Free Press, 60% of the people who committed suicide with Kevorkian’s help were not terminally ill. The report further asserted that Kevorkian’s counseling was too brief (with at least 19 patients dying less than 24 hours after first meeting Kevorkian) and often lacked a psychiatric exam, even when Kevorkian had been alerted that the patient was unhappy for reasons other than their medical condition. The report also stated that Kevorkian failed to refer at least 17 patients to a pain specialist after they complained of chronic pain, and sometimes failed to obtain a complete medical record for his patients, with at least three autopsies of suicides Kevorkian had assisted with showing the person who committed suicide to have no physical sign of disease.[14] In response, Kevorkian’s attorney published an essay stating, “I’ve never met any doctor who lived by such exacting guidelines as Kevorkian…he published them in an article for the American Journal of Forensic Psychiatry in 1992. Last year he got a committee of doctors, the Physicians of Mercy, to lay down new guidelines, which he scrupulously follows.”[15] In a 2010 interview with Sanjay Gupta, Kevorkian stated an objection to the status of assisted suicide in Oregon, Washington, and Montana. Only in those three states is assisted suicide legal in the United States, and then only for terminally ill patients. To Gupta, Kevorkian stated “What difference does it make if someone is terminal? We are all terminal.”[16] In his view, a patient did not have to be terminally ill to be assisted in committing suicide, but did need to be suffering. However, he also said in that same interview that he declined four out of every five assisted suicide requests, on the grounds that the patient needed more treatment or medical records had to checked.[17] [edit] Art career Kevorkian was a jazz musician and composer. The Kevorkian Suite: A Very Still Life was a 1997 limited release CD of 5,000 copies from the ‘Lucid Subjazz’ label. It features Kevorkian on the flute and organ playing his own works with “The Morpheus Quintet.” It was reviewed in Entertainment Weekly online as “weird” but “good natured”.[18] As of 1997, 1,400 units had been sold.[18] Kevorkian wrote all the songs but one; the album was reviewed in jazzreview.com as “very much grooviness” except for one tune, with “stuff in between that’s worthy of multiple spins.”[19] Sludge metal band Acid Bath used one of his artworks as an album cover for their second album, Paegan Terrorism Tactics.[citation needed] He was also an oil painter. His work tended toward the grotesque; he sometimes painted with his own blood, and had created pictures such as one “of a child eating the flesh off a decomposing corpse.”[20] Of his known works, six were made available in the 1990s for print release. The Ariana Gallery in Royal Oak, Michigan is the exclusive distributor of Kevorkian’s artwork. The original oil prints are not for release.[21] [edit] Trials Kevorkian was tried four times for assisting suicides between May 1994 to June 1997. With the assistance of his lawyer Geoffrey Fieger, Kevorkian was acquitted three times. The fourth trial ended in a mistrial.[3] The trials helped Kevorkian gain public support for his cause. After Oakland County prosecutor Richard Thompson lost a primary election to a Republican challenger,[22] Thompson attributed the loss in part to the declining public support for the prosecution of Kevorkian and its associated legal expenses.[23] [edit] Conviction and imprisonment Part of a series on Euthanasia Types Animal · Child · Voluntary Non-voluntary · Involuntary Views Religious (Buddhist · Catholic) Groups Dignitas · Dignity in Dying Exit International People Jack Kevorkian · Philip Nitschke Books Final Exit The Peaceful Pill Handbook Jurisdictions Australia · Canada India · Mexico Netherlands · New Zealand Switzerland · United Kingdom United States Laws Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995 Oregon Death with Dignity Act Washington Death with Dignity Act Court cases Washington v. Glucksberg (1997) Gonzales v. Oregon (2006) Baxter v. Montana (2009) Alternatives Assisted suicide Palliative care Principle of double effect Terminal sedation Other issues Suicide tourism Groningen Protocol Euthanasia device Euthanasia and the slippery slope v · d · e On the November 22, 1998 broadcast of 60 Minutes, Kevorkian allowed the airing of a videotape he had made on September 17, 1998, which depicted the voluntary euthanasia of Thomas Youk, 52, who was in the final stages of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. After Youk provided his fully informed consent (a sometimes complex legal determination made in this case by editorial consensus) on September 17, 1998, Kevorkian himself administered Thomas Youk a lethal injection. This was highly significant, as all of his earlier clients had reportedly completed the process themselves. During the videotape, Kevorkian dared the authorities to try to convict him or stop him from carrying out mercy killings. On March 26, 1999, Kevorkian was charged with second-degree murder and the delivery of a controlled substance (administering the lethal injection to Thomas Youk).[8] Kevorkian’s license to practice medicine had been revoked eight years previously; he was not legally allowed to possess the controlled substance. As homicide law is relatively fixed and routine, this trial was markedly different from earlier ones that involved an area of law in flux (assisted suicide). Kevorkian discharged his attorneys and proceeded through the trial representing himself, a decision he later regretted.[3] The judge ordered a criminal defense attorney to remain available at trial as standby counsel for information and advice. Inexperienced in law and persisting in his efforts to represent himself, Kevorkian encountered great difficulty in presenting his evidence and arguments. In particular, he was not able to call any witnesses to the stand because the judge did not deem the testimony of any of his witnesses relevant.[24] After a two day trial, the Michigan jury found Kevorkian guilty of second-degree homicide.[3] The judge sentenced Kevorkian to serve 10–25 years in prison and told him: “You were on bond to
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Jack Kevorkian , the enigmatic pathologist known as “Dr. Death” and “Jack the Dripper,” who assisted in more than 130 suicides with his “mercy machine,” leaves a Read the rest
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Jack “Dr. Death” Kevorkian, the audacious doctor who spurred on the national right-to-die debate with a homemade suicide machine that helped end the lives Read the rest
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ROYAL OAK, Mich. – Jack Kevorkian, the retired pathologist who captured the world’s attention as he helped dozens of ailing people commit suicide, igniting Read the rest
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Jack Kevorkian remains hospitalized and weakened today, battling pneumonia and a recurring kidney condition, but the assisted suicide advocate is feeling Read the rest
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Library > Miscellaneous > Who2 Biographies Born: 28 May 1928 Birthplace: Pontiac, Michigan Best Known As: Euthanasia advocate known as “Dr. Death” Jack Kevorkian is a Read the rest
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Jacob “Jack” Kevorkian (/ k ɛ ˈ v ɔr k iː ɛ n born May 26, 1928) is an Armenian-American pathologist, right-to-die activist, painter, composer, instrumentalist Read the rest
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Jack Kevorkian, M.D. (born Pontiac, Michigan, May 29, 1928), also known as “Dr. Death” is a controversial American pathologist. He is most noted for publicly Read the rest
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Jack Kevorkian. Born: 26-May-1928 Birthplace: Pontiac, MI. Gender: Male Religion: Atheist Race or Ethnicity: White Sexual orientation: Straight Occupation: Doctor Read the rest
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Updated 3/24/08 Jack Kevorkian is a free man and now he is running for Congress! See the news page for details! Read the rest
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ROYAL OAK, Mich. — A lawyer says assisted-suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian is in a Detroit-area hospital with pneumonia and kidney problems. Mayer (MAY Read the rest
