Essay, Research Paper: Assisted Suicide

Assisted Suicide Originally, the term physician assisted suicide meant the provision by a physician of the means by which a suffering, terminally ill patient could initiate his or her death. The term euthanasia means the killing of a terminally ill person to end his/her suffering. Now, by practice, the term physician assisted suicide has been broadened in meaning to include the administration of a lethal substance by a physician to a suffering patient a form of euthanasia. Therefore, physician assisted suicide can now be defined as any action taken by a physician to provide death to a patient. Since the death of his first patient, the media has frequently portrayed Jack Kevorkian as a retired pathologist whose only goal is to help end the unbearable suffering of terminal illness. The facts tell a different story. According to the Anti-Euthanasia Task Force, Kevorkian has had no clinical experience with live patients with the exception of his residency and military service in the 1950 s. Kevorkian has admitted that he is not qualified to practice medicine, not even as a general practitioner. Yet, he has said that the decision about who is worthy to use his death machine is based on his medical expertise ( Anti-Euthanasia Task Force). With this of information in mind, should Dr. Jack Kevorkian be allowed to continue assisting people in committing suicide? The answer to this question is no! Kevorkian s future plans include the establishment of special death clinics where human experimentation could take place prior to the person s death. He has described a process by which subjects, (including infants, children and mentally incompetent people) would be used for experiments of any kind of complexity. The people in favor of Jack Kevorkian call him a hero. Janet Good, president of Hemlock of Michigan, praised Kevorkian as compassionate and courageous; thank God we have a doctor like him. Derek Humphry, co-founder of the Hemlock Society, said that Kevorkian is a very brave pioneer who is trying to shock the medical profession into accepting voluntary euthanasia. Kevorkian s followers argue that by allowing physician assisted suicide to the terminally ill, their families would not have to go through the torture of seeing their loved ones suffer, and the family s budget would not be exhausted on medical bills. Kevorkian s followers also agree that a decision to kill oneself is a private choice about which society has no right to interfere.

















 







Kevorkian does not have a license to practice medicine. In 1991, his Michigan license was suspended, and in 1993, his California license was also suspended. Although he calls himself a retired pathologist, he has not held a full-time job for years. One of Kevorkian s goals is to experiment with his subjects before he kills them. He says that if the subject s body is alive after experimentation death may be induced by such means as the removal of organs for transplantation or a lethal dose of a new or untested drug. When I read this, I picture in my mind what my history teachers had taught me about W.W.II. I picture images of German doctors cutting a person s leg to test how long a person could survive without his/her leg and no medical attention. Kevorkian has expressed his desire to assist in the deaths of twenty or thirty year-olds that are not ill but just do not want to live anymore. He has proposed an auction market for available organs taken from subjects who are hopelessly crippled by arthritis or malformations. Imagine being able to buy body parts the same way groceries are bought at the supermarket! In the Netherlands, physician assisted suicide and euthanasia have been legalized. While it began with a few extraordinary cases, physician assisted suicide and euthanasia have become routine in the Netherlands, accounting for almost ten percent of all deaths in 1990; more than half of these people did not ask to be killed (Dayton Right to Life)! I hope the United States can avoid this kind of tragedy and put a stop to Kevorkian s wicked plans.