Reference no: EM132516797

Assisted suicide advocate, Jack Kevorkian, died at the age of 83 at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan, after being hospitalized for about two weeks with kidney and heart problems. Kevorkian (also known as 'Dr. Death') helped more than 100 people to die by travelling around Michigan in a rusty Volkswagen van with his 'death machine'. While euthanasia advocates saw him as a hero, his harshest critics branded him 'a cold-blooded killer' who preyed on those in chronic pain.Kevorkian's attorney, Geoffrey Fieger told reporters: "Dr. Jack Kevorkian was a rare human being. It's a rare human being who can single-handedly take on an entire society by the scruff of its neck and force it to focus on the suffering of other human beings".Kevorkian began his assisted-suicide campaign in 1990. An Alzheimer's patient was the first to kill herself using a machine devised by Kervorkian that allowed her to trigger a lethal drug injection. After her death, Kervorkian was charged with first-degree murder but the charges were later dropped. Throughout the 1990s, he continued his campaign using various methods of bringing about death including carbon monoxide gas. Kervorkian often dropped bodies at hospitals late at night or leave t hem in motel rooms where these assisted suicides took place.

After a CBS News program aired a video of Kevorkian administering lethal drugs to a 52 year old man suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease in 1999, he was convicted for second-degree murder. Kervorkian was imprisoned for eight years and released in 2007 on parole after he agreed not assist in any more suicides. He continued however, to remain in the limelight, giving occasional lectures on assisted suicides. Kervorkian's personal philosophy was: "If we can aid people coming into the world, why can't we aid them in exiting the world?"

Forum Tasks

-Use the theory of virtue ethics to discuss Dr. Jack Kervorkian's character.

-How would you respond to Kervorkian's question: "If we can aid people coming into the world, why can't we aid them in exiting the world?"

-Would you consider euthanasia if you were terminally ill, in excruciating pain and your continued medical treatment was placing your family in severe debt? Explain your answer.