Dr. Jack Kevorkian — embraced as a compassionate crusader and reviled as a murderous crank — died early this morning. Known as Dr. Death even before launching his fierce advocacy and practice of assisted suicides, Kevorkian, 83, died at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, where he had been hospitalized with kidney and heart problems.
His attorney, Mayer Morganroth, said it appears Kevorkian suffered a pulmonary thrombosis when a blood clot from his leg broke free and lodged in his heart. With Kevorkian was his niece Ava Janus and Morganroth. “It was peaceful, he didn’t feel a thing,” Morganroth said. Morganroth said there were no artificial attempts to keep Kevorkian alive and no plans for a memorial.
Kevorkian had recently been diagnosed with liver cancer, which may have been caused by hepatitis C, said his long-time friend Neal Nicol of Waterford. Kevorkian did not have symptoms for years from hepatitis C, Nicol said, but the virus can cause liver cancer and ultimately fatal complications, particularly in the elderly.
>> Taxed Enough Already Dude said, on June 3rd, 2011 at 2:36 pm
>> Note progressives laud him…celebrate his philosophy of death…
I’m a liberal and my wife is practically a commie and we both don’t like human euthanasia.
Greg==letting emotional reactions to personalities sway him on another issue, even when his BRAIN is screaming at him to be rational.
Typical.
Goodnight funnyman.
I guess they’ll play the theme from MASH at his funeral?
#22 I don’t know Bobbo. I think it’s perfectly reasonable to judge a position by its primary advocates/supporters. It’s a start but should not be the end to examining an issue. No idea is so great that it can’t attract fuggheads.
To my eyes, Kevorkian falls into a group the media love – someone who seems eccentric, thus an easy target who is easily “discredited” (think Ron Paul or Dennis Kucinich). This makes for great headlines or great sound bites in the 24-7 brain dead cable news arena. If the messenger can be defeated, so can his/her message (ad hominem attacks). As you are fond of saying “silly hoomans” indeed.
Whether he was right on this issue is debatable but Kevorkian didn’t do himself any favors with his fascination with photographing patient’s eyes at their moment of death or creating macabre paintings. Is it bigoted for one to judge him based on these things? Perhaps, but a person’s values and interests are a window into him and his thought process. Of course, I could be wrong…it’s been known to happen.
Perhaps he was a modern Prometheus, delivering light and a sense of control against our primal fear of death. I can see that side of things but I still don’t like the notion of suicide.
Angry–I assume you chose your nom de flame in purposeful recognition that by your pleasure and allowance it supercedes your intellect. Why even try to disagree with or parse what you say when you begin by admitting the difference between the idea itself, and those who may be attracted to it or otherwise profess adherence to it?
In fact, there are various names for the error depending on what’s being emphasized: The fallacy of appeal to authority, ab hominem attack, straw man issues are a few.
You know this all as well as I do.
Now the notion of “preferences” is always interesting. Anyone can choose anything they like for themselves. If you don’t like the notion of suicide, you are free to make those end of life decisions for yourself. But are you actually hinting that you are a Nazi and are actually saying that because you don’t like it, you would make it illegal for others who do? THAT is an entirely different question.
Positions against the free choice rationally made in favor of suicide are always religiously based==another form of coerced morals, which is not really morals at all, but, dare I say: slavery. Involuntary forced submission to someone else’s morality.
Never good.
I can’t think of a single reason against suicide. Do you have any beyond its a sin?
#26 Tis True Boobeaux…at the moment of choice we are alone. Cold comfort that, no?
#26 Does something need to be a sin to be undesirable? Answer me that sir. And don’t worry about cherry picking my points in my earlier post.
Some thangs confound silly hoomans.
Dems a Silly Puke in Libertardian’s clothing!
#28 Been there, done that. Most people over think it.
#27–Angry==you say: “#26 Tis True Boobeaux…at the moment of choice we are alone. Cold comfort that, no?” /// Has a nice poetic ring, but as with just about everything we think and feel about: its definitional? Are we “ever alone?” And if so, it would certainly be a matter of choice? Hence, attended or assisted suicide. I’ve seen some films with family around the bed. Nice good byes and what not. I can imagine being in a crowd and dying alone as well. And being a pragmatic libertarian Existentialist, what difference does it make one way or the other?
#28–Angry==you say: “#26 Does something need to be a sin to be undesirable? Answer me that sir.” As the evangelical anti-theist, I don’t accept the validity/posit of “sin” per se so by definition, your question is irrelevant. Ironically, I find most of the sins to be highly desired by man, thats why they are sins. Heh, heh.
Hey–you didn’t answer any of my questions. Not unusual. Silly indeed.
Pres Obama said we are wasting money on the last months of life. He needs more Dr Kevorkians to get his budgets to come in line with projections.
Damn, Dallas and I had just made an appointment for Pedro too.
I love all the “black and white” judgements here. My uncle Jack was a grand fellow and dying from cancer. He left the hospital to go home and die in his own bed with his family near him. He died on his own terms.
Staying in the hospital would have given a few more weeks of life. Is that suicide? Were the doctors and his family complicit?
The pharma industry and their Republican lackeys are rejoicing. Kevorkian allowed the terminally ill to choose a dignified, painless end. However, he was taking away a lucrative market for expensive drugs and other opportunity in misery and suffering.
foobar–whats wrong with making black and white judgments when the values at hand are black and white.
You are even (strongly implied) being black and white in your own story.
I HATE the equivocating that clouds clear thinking. 99% of the time, if you have an opinion, it should be black and white, backed up with facts and arguments that are sensible and responsive (not dogma) and if you don’t have issues resolved so that you are being black and white, then simply say you don’t know or have no opinion.
Waffling is never good, even though I have my own killer home made recipe. The secret is buckwheat flour and cornmeal.
Well bobbo, that was disappointing. There was nothing black and white about it.
Fundamentalists everywhere.
#3
Proper term for what Kevorkian supported is voluntary accepted murder
Simply not true. Murder is death such that the target is given no choice in the decision. The people helped by Kevorkian wanted to die. They wanted to kill themselves. If someone had handed them a gun, they would shot themselves. Kevorkian simply assisted in a decision already made by the person in question to end their own life.
#12
Well said.
Instead of being labeled Doctor Death, he should have been called Doctor Dignity. Because he only wanted people to have the choice to check out, before becoming totally helpless and a huge financial burden on their families. But the rest of the medical profession has taken this “never let them die” approach. At least if there’s plenty of money to be had, by stretching out their suffering.
Perhaps they should let the terminally ill volunteer to fight the wars overseas. Because they don’t seem to care how many healthy young soldiers die in the process. Let the ill, take some flack, in their place. Many of them would probably jump at the chance to check out that quickly. But you know the backward ass logic of modern society. It says that only the healthiest and youngest, are allowed to take deadly risks. What totally insane world did I wake up into?
I fart into my desk chair and pontificate in an arrogant and uninformative way. Herp-a-durp-a-durp I’m Bobbo!
http://strimoo.com/video/10556161/Mr-Derp-MySpaceVideos.html
#30
Isn’t everybody anti-sin? It just depends on what your definition of “sin” is. Or do the acolytes in the Church of Atheism actually advocate doing evil? Based on some of your bretheren at the Altar, that might not come as much of a surprise, but I’m somewhat shocked to see you advocate it in public! Are you pro-pedophilia? Pro-murder? Pro-hate crime? I know that you think same-sex marriage is an abomination, but are you really advocating dragging gay couples behind a pickup truck? Zounds!!