INFAMOUS: Jack Kevorkian
- Yasmin Sudarsanam
- Nov 16, 2024
- 4 min read
Trigger Warning: The following case includes depictions of self harm. Please read at your own discretion.
Jack Kevorkian, often known as the most famous advocate for physician-assisted suicide in the United States, received hundreds of letters from people suffering from chronic and terminal illnesses, pleading for his help. Between 1990 and 1998, he assisted in what he called “medicides” for over 130 people, challenging deep-seated taboos surrounding death and forcing a national conversation about the legality and morality of medically assisted suicide. While the general public labeled him “Dr. Death,” many who relied on his services considered him a hero and friend. This is the story of Jack Kevorkian.
Born on May 26, 1928, in Pontiac, Michigan, to Armenian immigrants, Kevorkian was drawn to service from a young age, even teaching himself German and Japanese in hopes of serving in World War II. Although the war ended before he came of age, Kevorkian continued his studies at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Initially pursuing engineering, he soon switched to medicine, eventually specializing in clinical pathology. Kevorkian served briefly in the Korean War before returning to the University of Michigan to complete his residency. It was during this time that he began to take an intense interest in death and the dying process, conducting experiments that sought to pinpoint the exact moment life left the body by photographing the eyes of terminally ill patients. He proposed using death-row inmates as subjects for medical experiments, an idea that led to his expulsion from the residency program.
Throughout his early career, Kevorkian’s controversial ideas continued to clash with the medical community. In one instance, he proposed that doctors use the blood of the recently deceased for transfusions to wounded soldiers. These disputes, combined with his unorthodox ideas, led to his early retirement in the 1980s. Kevorkian then turned his attention to art and music, but his fascination with death was reignited after visiting the Netherlands, where he learned about Dutch physicians’ practice of medically assisting the suicides of terminally ill patients. Inspired, Kevorkian returned to the U.S. and began researching methods of assisted suicide, even creating a device called the “Thanatron,” which could dose patients with a lethal amount of fluids.
Kevorkian began advertising what he termed an “orbitorium” in Detroit newspapers— a place for those considering medically assisted suicide to receive “death counseling.” This led to his first client, Janet Adkins, a 54-year-old woman with Alzheimer’s. Kevorkian assisted her in ending her life in 1990, subsequently calling the police himself. Although he was briefly detained, his work continued, bringing him significant media attention and solidifying his lifelong association with death. To protect himself legally and ensure his patients’ comfort, Kevorkian developed a “doctrine” of safeguards: patients had to explicitly request to die, consult with their own physicians and psychologists, take a month to consider their decision, and record interviews with themselves and their loved ones.
Kevorkian’s work sparked a heated national debate on the ethics of assisted suicide. In California, Governor George Deukmejian had recently signed the End of Life Option Act, legalizing medically assisted suicide, and public support was on the rise. Gallup polls showed a dramatic increase in favor of the practice, from 36 percent in 1950 to 75 percent in 1996. Many argued that assisted suicide was a humane option, providing relief to those facing harsh treatments with inadequate pain management. However, disability rights organizations opposed euthanasia, with one group declaring the movement “very threatening to a disabled person.”
Authorities in Michigan sought to halt Kevorkian’s practice through various legal means, but these efforts repeatedly fell short. In 1991, a state judge issued an injunction prohibiting Kevorkian from using his suicide machine, and his medical license was suspended. In 1993, Michigan passed a law criminalizing assisted suicide, though it was later struck down as unconstitutional by both a state judge and the Michigan Court of Appeals. The issue reached the Michigan Supreme Court in 1994, which ruled that assisted suicide was a common-law felony and not a protected right under the state constitution.
Despite mounting legal pressures, Kevorkian’s work maintained strong support from the families of those he helped, some of whom stayed in touch with him and even offered to cover his legal expenses. Kevorkian’s legal battles took a decisive turn with the case of Thomas Youk, a 52-year-old man suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), who came to Kevorkian seeking an end to his suffering. Kevorkian filmed Youk’s death and broadcasted it on national television, leading to his prosecution. Unlike his previous trials, where his attorney, Geoffrey Fieger, had relied on accounts of Kevorkian’s compassion to sway the jury, this trial was different. The court barred the family’s testimony, removing Kevorkian’s typical defense strategy. Choosing to represent himself, he was ultimately convicted of second-degree murder in 1999.
Kevorkian served eight years of a 10-to-25-year sentence before being released on the condition that he would cease any involvement with euthanasia and refrain from promoting it publicly. Even after his release, he continued to lecture at universities and participate in interviews, speaking on the ethics of end-of-life care. Kevorkian passed away in 2011 at 83 from kidney and liver complications, as well as pneumonia. Ironically, at the end of his life, he himself lacked the very assistance he had once provided to hundreds.
Kevorkian’s influence extended far beyond his own controversial practices. His advocacy highlighted flaws in hospice care, prompting improvements in pain management and end-of-life options. Today, the United States remains divided on medically assisted suicide, with the practice legal in only ten states and Washington, D.C., as of 2023. Kevorkian’s legacy is preserved in his personal papers, which he donated to the University of Michigan library, documenting his life’s work and the countless lives he impacted.
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