Ailing 'Dr. Death' to leave prison

[Gunny]

LANSING, Michigan (AP) -- For nearly a decade, Dr. Jack Kevorkian waged a defiant campaign to help other people kill themselves.

The retired pathologist left bodies at hospital emergency rooms and motels and videotaped a death that was broadcast on CBS' "60 Minutes." His actions prompted battles over assisted suicide in many states.

But as he prepares to leave prison June 1 after serving more than eight years of a 10- to 25-year sentence in the death of a Michigan man, Kevorkian will find that there's still only one state that has a law allowing physician-assisted suicide -- Oregon.

cont ... http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/05/28/kevorkian.release.ap/index.html

Is it back to "business as usual," or is he looking for an assist for himself?

 

[William Joyce]

I'm a little torn on Dr. Jack. Mostly against, but...

It is true that modern medicine has made the extension of biological life, exclusive of all other considerations, into a sort of medical-school joke. Keeping someone with no brain alive for decades is no more respectful of human life than a partial-birth abortion. "Respect for life" involves a tricky balance between keeping it going and letting it end.

But in most cases, I think nature should take the wheel in ending life instead of humans. If you're still alive, God has something in mind for you.

 

[mattskramer]

I'm a little torn on Dr. Jack. Mostly against, but...

It is true that modern medicine has made the extension of biological life, exclusive of all other considerations, into a sort of medical-school joke. Keeping someone with no brain alive for decades is no more respectful of human life than a partial-birth abortion. "Respect for life" involves a tricky balance between keeping it going and letting it end.

But in most cases, I think nature should take the wheel in ending life instead of humans. If you're still alive, God has something in mind for you.

Okay. Correct me if I am wrong. You think that an elderly man of 95 in severe pain due to an incurable disease but of sound mind and wishing to be put to death but without the strength to kill himself should be forced to go on living.

In most cases, provided the subject is an adult of sound mind, he should decide for himself. Whose life is it anyway? If God exists, he, she, it, or they will decide if the subject was correct.

 

[Truthmatters]

So this william charactor believes in God?

Wow I guess hes going to have God pretty pissed at him for talking shit aobut his creations.

Maybe hes an old time Morman who believes Black people can only get to heaven as slaves to whites?

 

[mattskramer]

So this william charactor believes in God?

Wow I guess hes going to have God pretty pissed at him for talking shit aobut his creations.

Maybe hes an old time Morman who believes Black people can only get to heaven as slaves to whites?

I know what you mean. He also nearly stepped into the natural law fallacy. Let’s let nature take its course. Tell that to a young man struggling with cancer. Perhaps god intended the young man to get cancer. After all, cancer is practically a natural part of life. If you live long enough, you will likely get cancer. Some people get it sooner than other people get it. Look. Nature does not know right from wrong. It merely tells you what is. On the other hand I’d recommend that he try radiation treatment, chemotherapy drugs, and a host of other man-made un-natural treatments.

 

[William Joyce]

Okay. Correct me if I am wrong. You think that an elderly man of 95 in severe pain due to an incurable disease but of sound mind and wishing to be put to death but without the strength to kill himself should be forced to go on living.

If he's in "severe pain" at 95 because of an "incurable" disease, he's not going to last long. I say give him heavy doses of pain medication until he passes on. The act of committing suicide is an extreme measure. I'm not saying I'd categorically ban it, I'm just saying it's extreme and Dr. Jack tended to treat it as something everyone's entitled to.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

There are a lot of reasons "suicide" should not be a "right" and most especially why it should be illegal to HELP someone kill themselves. Euthenasia is another problem...

A society that allows these things to happen and makes them legal is on its last legs.

 

[jillian]

One could also say we're kinder to our pets than we are to our people.