Dr. Death is free

[MTK]

AHN | "Dr. Death" Released From Jail After More Than Eight Years | June 1, 2007

Jack Kevorkian, the former Michigan-based pathologist and the purported public advocate of terminal patients' right to die, was released from prison Friday more than eight years after he was convicted in the assisted suicide-murder of Thomas Youk of Oakland County, Michigan. The 79-year-old, nicknamed "Doctor Death" by some, was convicted in 1999 and sentenced to a maximum 10 to 25 year sentence, however he earned time off his sentence for good behavior.

[hesscl34]

I watched a program once about when he would kill people. He taped it. It was so weird... strange and VERY disturbing. Most of the people he was killing were completely lucid and very aware, with there families watchig... it just freaked me out!

[MTK]

Why is it ok to put animals to sleep, but not a person who is chronically ill and it's their own wish to die??

[hesscl34]

If we start thinking that way, then every time someone gets sick you might as well give them a prescription of sleeping pills and tell them to end it whenever they so choose. If you are going to higher a doc to do it, you are only separating yourself from the responsibility of taking your own life, and in doing so hoping in some way to justify it to your loved ones and others. Anyway you look at it, it’s taking a life before it was time to go.

[hesscl34]

oh, and the difference between animals and humans? Humans have free will.

[dmek25]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Why is it ok to put animals to sleep, but not a person who is chronically ill and it's their own wish to die??

whats funny is he helps people that want to die. go sell some crack, and you would do less time in prison. thats messed up

[70Chip]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Why is it ok to put animals to sleep, but not a person who is chronically ill and it's their own wish to die??

Why is it okay to strap an ox to a plow and make him pull the thing around all day in the hot sun?

If someone wants to die, then they should nut up and do it themselves. Don't drag other people into it. Of course, I don't think it took too much dragging with Dr. K. He strikes me as a bit of a ghoul.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by hesscl34

If we start thinking that way, then every time someone gets sick you might as well give them a prescription of sleeping pills and tell them to end it whenever they so choose. If you are going to higher a doc to do it, you are only separating yourself from the responsibility of taking your own life, and in doing so hoping in some way to justify it to your loved ones and others. Anyway you look at it, it’s taking a life before it was time to go.

If you're terminally ill I think it should be your choice to end your own life.

After all, it's your life, right?

[Hog1]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

If you're terminally ill I think it should be your choice to end your own life.

After all, it's your life, right?

Many terminally ill people die a .............bad death...very painful and protracted.
Dr. D performed a valuable service to people who did not want to deal with that. The law should not interfere with that.

[70Chip]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

If you're terminally ill I think it should be your choice to end your own life.

After all, it's your life, right?

By definition it is their choice. No one can stop a person from committing suicide. The problem is dragging medicine into the process which is a slippery slope towards soylent green, etc. If doctors start ending life regularly they might take it upon themselves to start making the decisions. Or the government might start doing cost analysis and so forth.

The other thing is that I think Doctors have been known to prescribe medication for a terminal patient in a kind of informal way. I suspect Jackie O. went that way. The whole family marches in to say goodbye and the next morning she's gone? Maybe she was just fortunate. Kevorkian actually makes that more difficult because he is such a camera-hog and a ghoul. Taping the deaths and using that ridiculous machine. It stirs up things in an unhelpful way.

[MTK]

Is attempting suicide illegal?

[70Chip]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Is attempting suicide illegal?

Good question. The libertarian in me says its shouldn't be. But what if you had a Closeau-like figure who consistently failed to finish the job? The rope breaks. The car in the garage runs out of gas. A truck full of pillows drives under the building at exactly the right (wrong) moment. It could cost a fortune in health care.

[jdlea]

I'm all for euthanasia. I have no problem with it at all. There are plenty of ways I don't want to die and there are also many ways in which I will refuse to live. If I am able to avoid a horribly painful death, then why shouldn't I be allowed to do that? I think people should be able to decide for themselves, and I don't think they should be required to kill themselves. If a doctor wants to provide that "service" it should be his personal preference, but I believe the person should be required to be of sound mind.

I was actually having this discussion with a guy a work with today. We both kind of agreed that there are plenty of diseases I don't want to have to live with. If I could have a doctor euthanize me, I would strongly consider it in those cases.

[saden1]

We aren't talking about euthanization of mentally ill people here. These are people who are often old and terminally ill who wish to end their life in a humane manner. They have free will and as such should be allowed to determine their own destiny.

[70Chip]

Originally Posted by jdlea

I'm all for euthanasia. I have no problem with it at all. There are plenty of ways I don't want to die and there are also many ways in which I will refuse to live. If I am able to avoid a horribly painful death, then why shouldn't I be allowed to do that? I think people should be able to decide for themselves, and I don't think they should be required to kill themselves. If a doctor wants to provide that "service" it should be his personal preference, but I believe the person should be required to be of sound mind.

I was actually having this discussion with a guy a work with today. We both kind of agreed that there are plenty of diseases I don't want to have to live with. If I could have a doctor euthanize me, I would strongly consider it in those cases.

I'm the exact opposite. I would much rather do it myself than involve anyone else. I mean dead is dead, right?