A little bit about the REAL Jack Kevorkian – In His Own Words

euthanasia, executions, experimentation, exploitation, hydrocephalus, Kevorkian, medical killings, obitiatry, organ donation, Our News & Commentary Blog, reality check, spina bifida, susan sarandon

It seems that a fair number of people are surprised – even stunned – that me or any disabled person has anything at all bad to say about Kevorkian.  The fact is, as a spoof.com writer put it, most supporters of Jack Kevorkian are “f–king uninformed idiot(s)”.

I think that’s a fair label for people who don’t want to know any more lest they be challenged to reappraise their opinions of Kevorkian. But I think there are some folks – especially in the disability community, who might want to take a look at some things the mainstream media somehow missed.

In the HBO docudrama, careful viewers might have caught a brief discussion regarding Kevorkian’s publication of a book, following the publicity surrounding the assisted suicide of Janet Adkins.  The book in question – Prescription: Medicide: The Goodness of Planned Death – detailed Kevorkian’s history of advocacy regarding live, lethal human experimentation, which went otherwise unmentioned in the movie.

Before he started aiding the suicides of oppressed, despairing ill, old and disabled people, Kevorkian was most well-known for his campaign to start a new “ethic” toward death and human experimentation. He began his campaign in the 1950s, urging legislation that would allow death row prisoners to elect to be put to death through general anesthesia. There was a catch, though. They would also have to agree to be kept alive for hours or days while surgical experiments were performed on them.  (I’m assuming Susan Sarandon didn’t know about this part of his past.  Judging from publicity statements, she was perfectly OK with his aiding the suicides of despairing disabled women.  I think she’d be less OK with experiments on death row prisoners.  Most people I hang out with don’t like either idea or practice.)

So shortly after his assisted suicide crusade began, Kevorkian tried to tell his adoring public what his real goals were.

1991 book . On page 214 of Prescription: Medicide: The Goodness of Planned Death, Kevorkian admitted that assisting “suffering or doomed persons kill themselves” was “merely the first step, an early distasteful professional obligation.…What I find most satisfying,” he wrote, “is the prospect of making possible the performance of invaluable experiments or other beneficial medical acts under conditions that this first unpleasant step can help establish — in a word obitiatry.”(Obitriatry was Kevorkian’s name for his wished-for medical specialty which would involve facilitating deaths, and exploiting the individuals in the killing process through experimentation and organ harvesting.)

Kevorkian’s advocacy wasn’t limited to death row prisoners and it wasn’t limited to people who could express a wish to be killed. Below is an excerpt from a 1988 article in which he describes examples of “daring” experiments that could be performed if his system of ethics were to be adopted. The example below is the last of eleven examples. I’ve also included his remarks following the “case example.”

A full-term infant born with spina bifida, paraplegia, and hydrocephalus is transferred, once proper consent and authorization have been obtained, to an obitorium for research hitherto conducted in rats be researchers interested in the hepatic metabolism of prostaglandin. Test material is given to the anesthetized infant by stomach tube. Two hours later the abdominal cavity is opened, and the intact stomach, small intestine, and liver are removed separately for preservation and subsequent processing for chemical analysis. Meanwhile the infant’s heart and lungs are removed for transplantation elsewhere.

The above fanciful events credibly exemplify several almost self-evident points. First, obitiatry would make it possible to conduct daring and highly imaginative research beyond the constraints of traditional but outmoded, hopelessly inadequate, and essentially irrelevant ethical codes now sustained for the most part by vacuous sentimental reverence. Second, the proposed innovation should be extolled by animal rights advocates, because it would eliminate the need for animals now sacrificed unnecessarily in many aspects of academic and industrial research. As a corollary, the advocated practice wold minimize inadvertent human pain and suffering in the conduct of experimental clinical trials of new drugs, devices, or procedures by serving as an intermediate buffer stage between those trials and the first probing experiments on laboratory animals. Finally, taken together, these advantages not only represent a substantial easing of the strain on research budgets; but much more importantly, they help accelerate the medical progress so highly prized in our time. (p. 9)

Kevorkian, Jack. The last fearsome taboo: Medical aspects of planned death. Medicine and Law, vol. 7, pp. 1-14

So — anyone out there thinking Jack Kevorkian was a humanitarian and hero – this is what he stood for and it’s what you’re applauding when you applaud his “career.”  –Stephen Drake

Reality Check – Factual Information on Jack Kevorkian from a Surprising Source

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Anyone who is familiar with this blog or has actually done some research on Jack Kevorkian knows that a lot of the news coverage related to his death has been pretty crappy.  The New York Times, Huffington Post – even William Saletan at Slate – credit Kevorkian as someone who “helped” the “terminally ill” (although Saletan thinks he slipped on occasion and accidentally helped the suicide of someone who wasn’t dying).

As you can see from checking the resources on a recent post here, the claim that Jack Kevorkian’s campaign was aimed at helping the “terminally ill” is a load of fetid dingo kidneys.  He never claimed (at least in his writings or before being managed by Mayer Morganroth) to be just concerned with “terminally ill” people.  Kevorkian had a broader calling. 

One of the few places you’ll see it laid out is in a piece at the satire site Spoof.com.

When you click on a link to a satirical article at Spoof, you are directed first to a disclaimer page, in which you are warned:

The story you are trying to access may cause offense, may be in poor taste, or may contain subject matter of a graphic nature.

This story was written as a satire or parody. It is entirely fictitious.

In most cases, that’s an accurate warning.  And, to be fair, the article in question may be offensive to a lot of people.

But everything in the article is true.

Doubt that?  Here’s a sample of “Response To Those Who Believe That Jack Kevorkian was An Angel Of Mercy“:

With respect to those that believe that Jack Kevorkian was a benevolent Angel of Mercy: You’re a f–king uninformed idiot.

Are you aware that at least 60 percent of Kevorkian’s suicide patients were not terminal? Do you know that at least 17 could have lived indefinitely? Are you aware that in THIRTEEN cases, Kevorkian killed people that had NO complaints of pain or quality of life issues?

Obviously not. Dolt.

Before rendering your opinion, did you know that in 1992, Kevorkian wrote it is always mandatory to bring in a psychiatrist because a person’s “mental state is . . . of paramount importance,” yet, in at least 19 cases, Kevorkian did not contact psychiatrists? Or that in at least five of these cases, the people who died had histories of depression?

Doubt it. Asshat.

There’s more.  But you get the drift.  The author – defamationstation – is sharing more factual information about Jack Kevorkian than you’ll find reading CNN, Washington Post, or the New York Times (with the exception of one column by Ross Douthat, which I’ll write about later tonight or tomorrow morning).

That’s the world we live in, apparently.  The so-called “respected” news sources and columnists give us an inaccurate and sanitized account of Jack Kevorkian.  Instead, we have to go to humor site – where it can get published only because it runs under the guise of being satire – and fictional.

Maybe some of the so-called news media – print, online, etc. – ought to consider running a disclaimer warning people that some of their content might be fictional and they’ll have to sort the fiction from the fact for themselves.  That would be some real truth in reporting.

The Lighter Side of Kevorkian’s Death (humor and satire alert)

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I figured there might be more of this, but here are a couple of very irreverent reactions to Kevorkian’s death.

Andy Borowitz writes that Paul Ryan Vows to Continue Kevorkian’s Work:

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) – In a somber Congressional ceremony, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) eulogized the late Dr. Jack Kevorkian today, vowing to “honor his legacy by continuing his good work.”

“Dr. Kevorkian tried to ease the transition of seniors into the great beyond,” an emotional Rep. Ryan told his colleagues in the House of Representatives.  “Here in Congress, we have the opportunity – one might even say the obligation – to continue Kevorkian’s work on a grander scale.”

As a first step to memorialize the work of Dr. Kevorkian, Rep. Ryan said that his new budget plan would replace Medicare with a system of so-called “Kevouchers” that could be redeemed for cyanide pills, nooses and bullets. (h/t to Marilyn Golden and Sheila Boyd)

And from The Onion:

Man Dies All By Himself.  (h/t) to April Shiebler

There’s another one I found over the weekend, but it brings up some issues that merit a separate post, which will come later today.  –Stephen Drake

Some Information resources on Jack Kevorkian

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I suspect that over  the next few days we might see some first-time visitors to this blog – and many of them will be curious as to just what kind of factual information is out there about Kevorkian that is absent in just about all of the media coverage.  Below is a non-exhaustive list of some easily accessible sources that give you some information on Jack Kevorkian’s background, career and motivations.  A lot of it will be completely new information to you – if you’ve been getting you’re info from sources such as the New York Times or HBO’s “You Don’t Know Jack.”

Also of Interest…

PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES ARE ENTITLED TO DIGNITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE: A STATEMENT IN OPPOSITION TO HONORING DR. JACK KEVORKIAN – From 2000, a statement opposing the Gleitsman Foundation’s plans to honor Jack Kevorkian with a “humanitarian” award.  The statement is endorsed by a long list of leaders and activists in the realm of social justice, including Bob Kafka, Martin Sheen, Paul Longmore and Justin Dart.

More to come – Stephen Drake

PRESS RELEASE: NDY Activists React to News of Kevorkian’s Death

assisted suicide, diane coleman, euthanasia, Kevorkian, media coverage, media issues, Our News & Commentary Blog, press release, stephen drake

For Immediate Release
June 3, 2011
Contact:
Stephen Drake, Research Analyst
585-697-1640; sndrake@aol.com
Diane Coleman, President
708-420-0539; ndycoleman@aol.com
Disability Activists React to News of Kevorkian’s Death
Anti-euthanasia disability rights group formed in response to Kevorkian’s 1996 acquittal in deaths of two disabled women
Challenge members of the media to get their facts straight.
(Rochester, NY) Approximately ten years after his attorney filed the first of four annual appeals for early prison release repeatedly claiming Kevorkian had less than a year to live, Jack Kevorkian died today at the age of 83.
Today, speaking from their office in Rochester, NY, two spokespersons for the grassroots disability rights organization Not Dead Yet made the following statements:
“While it may be culturally correct to refrain from speaking ill of the dead, the fact is that like many other disability activists, I viewed Kevorkian as an opportunist and an exploiter of other people’s despair.  Many chronically ill and disabled people got suicide assistance from him when some help ending social isolation, spousal or family abandonment, discrimination, and financial troubles would have led them to want to go on with their lives,” said Not Dead Yet Research Analyst Stephen Drake. 
“As a disabled woman, I was disgusted and alarmed with how easily society accepted and even applauded Kevorkian’s “help” in the suicides of disabled women.  Like many women, I’ve gone through periods of isolation and desperation – and was lucky to have friends see that I needed support,” said Diane Coleman, President of Not Dead Yet.  “It seems that when a disabled woman says she wants to kill herself that no one – not the Kevorkian juries, not the press, not even many people in the general public – look for reasons beyond the wheelchair the woman sits in as a valid reason for wanting to die.”
Drake added that the initial wave of press coverage announcing Kevorkian’s death has perpetuated the totally inaccurate description of Kevorkian’s body count as people who were “terminally ill.”  He mentioned the New York Times, New York Magazine and Huffington Post as specific examples of sloppy and inaccurate reporting.  In contrast, studies reported in such publications as the New England Journal of Medicine have concluded that seventy percent of those assisted by Kevorkian were disabled and not terminal.
Both Coleman and Drake attended the trial of Jack Kevorkian on second degree murder charges due to his televised killing of Thomas Youk through lethal injection.  Youk had Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).  Not Dead Yet organized an ongoing courtroom presence as well as a daily vigil outside the Oakland County Courthouse, in which over 50 disability activists participated at one time or another.
Diane Coleman and Stephen Drake have written and lectured extensively on Jack Kevorkian, his history, and his importance to the pro-euthanasia movement.  They are available for media interviews using the contact information at the top of this release.
About Not Dead Yet: Not Dead Yet was founded on April 27,1996, shortly after Jack Kevorkian was acquitted in the assisted suicides of two women with non-terminal disabilities. In a 1997 Supreme Court rally, the outcry of 500 people with disabilities chanting “Not Dead Yet” was heard around the world. Since then, eleven other national disability rights groups have joined NDY in opposing legalized assisted suicide, chapters have taken action in over 30 states, and we helped put Jack Kevorkian behind bars in 1999.  Not Dead Yet continues to help lead and organize the disability community in resisting the legalization of assisted suicide, euthanasia and other public policy proposals that threaten the lives of people with disabilities.
Contact:
Not Dead Yet, 497 State Street, Rochester  NY  14608
Phone: 585-697-1640
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