Reference no: EM133947075

Question

Jack Kevorkian was a retired pathologist and an advocate for physician-assisted suicide. Between 1990 and 1998, Kevorkian assisted in the suicide of a reported 130 people; most were terminally ill and diagnosed as having less than 6 months to live or were disabled or chronically ill. Despite being arrested and tried multiple times, Kevorkian was acquitted, usually because of the absence of existing laws against assisted suicide. However, in 1998 the Michigan legislature enacted a law making assisted suicide a felony punishable by a maximum 5-year prison sentence or a $10,000 fine. Yet Kevorkian continued to provide assisted suicide for patients. In 1999 a jury in Oakland County, Michigan, convicted Kevorkian of second-degree murder and the illegal delivery of a controlled substance, and he was sentenced to 10-25 years in prison with the possibility of parole.

During the next 3 years, Kevorkian attempted to appeal, including to the U.S. Supreme Court, but his request was refused. In 2007 after serving a little more than 8 years of his sentence, Kevorkian was released from prison on good behavior and on the condition he would not assist in any more suicides. Kevorkian once said of his work: "My aim in helping the patient was not to cause death. My aim was to end suffering. It's got to be decriminalized." Kevorkian died in 2011 at the age of 83.

Were Kevorkian's actions ethically or legally wrong or both? State your opinion. Integrate ethical decision making models.

Did Kevorkian commit a crime even if there were no laws against assisted suicide?