Jack Kevorkian
Jack Kevorkian
Jacob "Jack" Kevorkian was an American pathologist, euthanasia activist, painter, author, composer, and instrumentalist. He is best known for publicly championing a terminal patient's right to die via physician-assisted suicide; he claimed to have assisted at least 130 patients to that end. He was often portrayed in the media with the biased name of "Dr. Death"; however, many consider him a hero, as he helped set the platform for reform. He famously said, "Dying is not a crime"...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionDoctor
Date of Birth26 May 1928
CityPontiac, MI
CountryUnited States of America
First of all, do any of you here think it's a crime to help a suffering human end his agony? Any of you think it is? Say so right now. Well, then, what are we doing here?
I will admit, like Socrates and Aristotle and Plato and some other philosophers, that there are instances where the death penalty would seem appropriate.
I suppose, if helping a patient die is killing, I suppose I'm a killer.
I'd find it demeaning to be cleaning toilets.
It's the boredom that kills you. You read until you're tired of that. You do crossword puzzles until you're tired of that. This is torture. This is mental torture.
If you don't have liberty and self-determination, you've got nothing, that's what this is what this country is built on. And this is the ultimate self-determination, when you determine how and when you're going to die when you're suffering.
I'm for absolute autonomy of the individual, and an adult, competent woman has absolute autonomy. It's her choice.
If a man is terrified, it's up to me to dispel that terror.
If Christ can die in a barn, I think the death of a human in a van is not so bad.
My intent was to carry out my duty as a doctor, to end their suffering. Unfortunately, that entailed, in their cases, ending of the life.
None of them want to delay. Understand that. None of them.
Not one has shown an iota of fear of death. They want to end this agony.
Am I a criminal? The world knows I'm not a criminal. What are they trying to put me in jail for? You've lost common sense in this society because of religious fanaticism and dogma.
I gambled and I lost. I failed in securing my options for this choice for myself, but I succeeded in verifying the Dark Age is still with us.