Jack Kevorkian Has Died At Age 83

Jack Kevorkian is best known as being the “death doctor.” He is known for his “assisted suicides” for which he ended up in jail for. Many are against what he did, but there are some who are supportive. Kevorkian believed that people had the right to die and he was very strict when it came to who he would euthanize. Letting someone die peacefully seems a lot better than having the person suffer, but people speculated that not all the people who went to Kevorkian truly chose to die.

The Detroit Free Press gives background information on the controversial man for those who may not be familiar:

“Kevorkian was convicted in 1999 of second-degree murder and served eight years of prison time.

He admitted being present at about 130 suicides and his hectoring defiance of established laws and protocols forced reexamination of personal freedoms in medical treatments and end-of-life decisions.

Since his first acknowledged assisted suicide in 1990, authorities had tried to rein in Kevorkian as the toll of his clients soared. He was charged four times with murder only to have three juries acquit him and one case collapse in mistrial.

That streak of courtroom triumphs ended with the 1998 death of Thomas Youk, 52, of Waterford, who had Lou Gehrig’s disease.

In a self-inflicted triple injury, Kevorkian videotaped himself injecting Youk, had it broadcast on “60 Minutes,” and then acted as his own lawyer in the ensuing Oakland County murder trial.

Kevorkian was convicted of second-degree murder and drew a 10-25-year prison term at his 1999 sentencing. He was released in 2005 and discharged from parole in 2009.”

To some he was a hero, and to others he was a criminal.

Dr. Death died in a hospital in Detroit with his family close by.

The Guardian talks about the movie that was based on Kevorkian:

His life story became the subject of the 2010 HBO movie You Don’t Know Jack, which earned actor Al Pacino Emmy and Golden Globe awards for his portrayal of Kevorkian. Pacino paid tribute to Kevorkian during his Emmy acceptance speech, saying that he had enjoyed trying to “portray someone as brilliant and interesting and unique” as Kevorkian and that it was a “pleasure to know him”.

Kevorkian said he liked the movie and enjoyed the attention it generated, but doubted it would inspire much action by a new generation of assisted-dying advocates.

“You’ll hear people say, ‘Well, it’s in the news again, it’s time for discussing this further.’ No it isn’t. It’s been discussed to death,” he said. “There’s nothing new to say about it. It’s a legitimate ethical medical practice, as it was in ancient Rome and Greece.”

This man has definitely left his mark on society and his controversial ways will continue to be analyzed and discussed for a long time.