Reference no: EM133589603

Question

Why is it important for hospice to include the patient's family in the hospice care? What role can the patient's family play in hospice care? 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 1-=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.