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
When history looks back, it will prove what I'll die knowing.
The single worst moment of my life... was the moment I was born.
The public has no power. The government knows I'm not a criminal. The parole board knows I'm not a criminal. The judge knows I'm not a criminal.
Dying is not a crime.
The Jews were gassed. Armenians were killed in every conceivable way... So the Holocaust doesn't interest me, see? They've had a lot of publicity, but they didn't suffer as much.
I'm trying to knock the medical profession into accepting its responsibilities, and those responsibilities include assisting their patients with death.
The Supreme Court of the United States... has validated the Nazi method of execution in... concentration camps, starving them to death.
I will admit, like Socrates and Aristotle and Plato and some other philosophers, that there are instances where the death penalty would seem appropriate.
Maybe I won't stay out of prison. Who knows?
[Persons] who are recognized as citizens in any one state of the Union [have] the right to enter every other state, whenever they pleased... full liberty of speech in public and in private upon all subjects upon which its own citizens might meet; to hold public meetings upon political affairs, and to keep and carry arms wherever they went.
Everyone is going to die.
My ultimate aim is to make euthanasia a positive experience.
The patient's autonomy always, always should be respected, even if it is absolutely contrary - the decision is contrary to best medical advice and what the physician wants.
I have a natural right to do whatever I want with my body as long as it doesn't affect anybody else or any other property.