Dr. Jack Kevorkian and Assisted Suicides

To support suicide by Dr. Jack Kevorquian, euthanasia is becoming an increasing concern. As of 21st October, Kevorkian assisted 19 suicides. Because of the increase in suicide in Michigan State, at the end of February, Governor Engler signed anti - suicide law stipulating support of suicide assistance as a felony. During the 21-month trial period of the new law, anyone who promoted suicide is sentenced to a maximum of four years imprisonment and may be fined more than $ 2,000 (Reuters, 1993). If this law is passed, I think that most people oppose the right to die instead of this.

In the past decade, we have changed from the first public assistance suicide by Dr. Jack Kevokian to the first legal aid suicide in Oregon state. The fundamental question is whether people with terminal illness should have the right to ask doctors to accelerate their death. However, there is also a bigger problem of death in dignity, and what constitutes "good death". In most cases, people die at a hospital and doctors and nurses make heroic efforts to keep patients alive until there is no reasonable recovery opportunity. Unfortunately, in these courageous efforts, doctors and staff often ignore the pain, suffering, and desires of patients and their families in medical, moral, legal and economic struggles. In most cases, health professionals have significant discretion in deciding when extra effort to maintain life should be wasted and patients should be allowed to die.

In the 1990's, suicide in the United States attracted public attention due to the high publicity of Dr. Jack Kevorian. Dr. Kevorkian helped more than 40 people commit suicide in Michigan. His first public support suicide was a 54-year-old woman diagnosed with Janet Adkins, early onset Alzheimer's disease in 1989, in 1990. He was accused of murder but was accused of being canceled on December 13, 1990 because he did not have Michigan. Because the law prohibits suicide and medical assistance, he is not in violation of the law.

Since 1990, the promotion of Dr. Jack Kevorquian's activities has enabled doctors to support suicide as the forefront of Michigan's medical ethics. Advocates of suicide assistance usually resolve the right to suffer from individual patient's pain and death management. Opponents often concentrate on religious discussions on suicide and euthanasia, 'sluggish' of terrible social impacts, when doctors engage in deliberate death, the infringement of doctor's integrity. Since the discussion is so structured, it is easy to assume that a family has no role or just has a peripheral role.