RIP Jack Kevorkian (Dead at 83)

NY Times Link

http://www.redrumautographs.com/Kevorkian_clip_image001.jpg

 

Though I am not a mod, this topic spun some controversies. Gentle reminder to keep any discussions civil and respectful otherwise this thread will get locked and may be removed.

 

I hope he didn't suffer for too long. I'm not afraid of death as everybody does it, just the process some have to endure to get there. Look at Stephen Hawking and his remarkable life! However, pain is an exceptionally potent motivator though. R.I.P Jack

 

I am with Augie on this, not being afraid of death but not wanting to hasten the end.
I can not see a situation where i would contemplate ending my time here by my own hand but being a constant pain sufferer i can understand how it can sometimes bring on a deep depression.

 

I read another report that he has been hospitalized for a time prior to death. It's my sincere hope he was not trapped in the situation he desperately tried to avoid for others and that his end was peaceful.

I think what he did was compassionate, even if we wouldn't all personally agree too or want the same for ourselves. Those people were in pain and were not going to recover and he gave them the one thing no one else would... peace.

RIP.

 

I agree think its compassionate,assisted suicide should be an option for everyone IMO.

But we must always be vigilant in not trivialising it.It must always stay slightly taboo and be used in extreme circumstances.I find it hard to understand people who want to keep people living in torture when they themselves are not a live brain inside a dead body or in extreme pain everyday.

RIP dude.

 

I personally, can and do, prefer to live in pain that opt out. Then again, I accept that there may me some circumstances where death is inevitable, that self-termination may be an option.

~Rest in Peace, Jack Kevorkian.

 

Yeah, I think Dr. K's Shtick was that these people had no hope of recovery. They were Terminal, living in mass amounts of pain, burdening their families with their care and amassing huge medical bills just to die anyway. But other people were forcing them to go through it and all the wanted was the choice to die with dignity and not be in pain or have their families remember them as a burden.

I think it was noble of him to listen to them, and not force his values on them, like other people were. I Personally don't want to die, at the moment, but if I was put into their situation I would both want the choice and someone to help me to ensure it was done quickly.

I don't think by any stretch of the imagination that everyone believes the same thing. And that's absolutely fine. But in the right to die discussion I think people always forget one thing, because they get so impassioned with their own views, and that is what the patient wants. It's ultimately their life, and if it's over one way or another who am I to tell them they don't have that right?

I think everything else aside that's very important. And I must stress that the patient is a live, awake, and in charge of their own destiny. When a patient is comatose that's an entirely different thing, because they are not in control of their lives.

 

Here in Belgium assisted suicide is illegal but they do have a procedure that is used in some cases.
This is a factual story about my father in-law.
Although he was 94 when he passed away he had been in good health until he was 90 but then things started to go wrong for him, he suffered heart and liver problems plus he found it hard to breath without oxygen, he was in and out of hospital for four years but on the last occasion the doctors called us in and told us he had requested help to pass on, this is done by inducing a coma with drugs then all food and drink are stopped so the patient will pass away.
His legs were black from lack of blood circulation and he was in constant pain so the doctors agreed to help him on his way.
The family said their goodbyes and he was put to sleep after which it was just time before he was gone, he lasted 5 days and that was heartbreaking for my wife just watching him shrink away but she knew it is what he wanted.

I can understand that sometimes it can be too much to bear being terminally ill and in pain but i think the doctors need to really be careful when assessing a patients needs in these situations and not allowing the family to force things along as an easy way out.

 

I think he put them in a coma as well, but then he gave them a drug so they passed on immediately instead of wasting away.

Much like putting a pet to sleep, actually.

I'm sorry for your father in law. It must have been so hard to live a rich fulfilling life then to fall apart so painfully and suddenly. Sorry for your wife. ::hugs::

 

This is a disturbing link, be warned. A recent case in India.
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/aruna-shanbaug-case-supreme-court-rejects-euthanasia-plea-89894

 

RIP JK... we faced this issue with my father and I'm happy to say he was allowed the dignity deserved an individual to retire quietly when he felt his quality of life was unacceptable.

 

A man ahead of his time in many ways. He had a conviction that he never backed down from and I applaud him for that.

I used to have mixed feelings about this man and what he did.

Last year, a friend's 23 year old brother was in the end stages of a very aggressive colon cancer. The second time they went to operate on him they found over 50 cancerous polyps. They just closed him up again and let him live out the time he had left. At the end, he spent 6-8 weeks on the strongest form of morphine there is. The nurses were surprised that he didn't die from it, kept saying it was enough for a large horse. The man was in agony even when he was only semi-concious. When he was able to speak he would beg to be dead. Please make it stop. He was never going to get better. He was never going to have even 10 seconds of joy from a story or a smile of a loved one. He was made to suffer and waste away in his bed in front of his mother and family and there was not a thing they could do for him. He spent 90% of his day unconcious and the other 10% begging to make it stop and wimpering about how painful it was or just silent in acceptance of what he had to endure with tears in his eyes. It was horrible just to hear about second hand. During that time I changed my mind about Dr. Kevorkian's work.

From what I read he died with his lawyer and niece near by and that it was not painful. Lucky man