Jack Kevorkian, popularly known as “Dr. Death”, was born on May 26, 1928, in Detroit, United States.
He completed his studies in 1952, becoming a pathologist; following this craft until the end of the 1970s, when he also had the opportunity to work as head of this area, at the General Hospital of Saratoga, in the same city.
Since his residency, this doctor has already indicated some different ideas regarding death. He, for example, suggested the reuse of organs and tissues from deceased patients in people with specific health problems, causing a negative reaction from their peers and superiors. In addition, some sources say he has sought permission from authorities to experiment on people sentenced to death, without success.
It was, however, in the 1980s that Jack gained significant notoriety; helping – in his conception – terminally ill patients to end their pain, through assisted suicide. This procedure consists of helping another person, conscious, to reach death, painlessly, and on their own. So, it's different from
Since then, Kevorkian started to fight for the right to this practice. In 1988, he built the "lenience machine", which allowed this fact to be accomplished by pressing a button, releasing drugs into the patient's body. When he lost his medical license in 1991, he started using carbon monoxide as a tool to bring about the death of such people.
More than three times, Dr. Morte was tried for practicing and defending such acts, without resulting in significant consequences. However, in 1998, he was charged with murder for directly causing the death of a patient, Thomas Youk, who was incapable, physically, to administer lethal drugs on their own (in bioethics, such a procedure is called euthanasia active); and, still, film and allow the projection of such video on TV. Thus, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison, with the right to parole as of 2007. This year, as a condition of earning that right, he had to commit himself not to assist in any more suicides.
In the early hours of June 3, 2011, Jack Kevorkian died at the William Beaumnt hospital in his hometown; as a result of lodging a clot in her heart. He had been hospitalized there for about a month, mainly due to kidney problems and complications from diabetes.
Opinions are divided. On the one hand, some believe that Jack Kevorkian is a criminal. On the other hand, he is considered a person sensitive to the situation of people who were in extreme conditions – an idea reinforced by the fact that he has never charged for such assistance. Anyway, his attitudes invite us to reflect on issues that challenge medicine, bioethics, laws, religions, philosophy, science, and society as a whole; since they involve issues of great physical and psychological suffering, economic factors, among other aspects of great relevance.
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