Death brings uneasiness, chills
Campus Times
December 4, 1998
Some say that Dr. Jack Kevorkian has gone too far this time. Others
say the first time he assisted the suicide of a terminally-ill, pain-suffering
human being, he crossed the line. I say that he is an intelligent man who
is fighting for a good cause.
He most recently took assisted suicide to an entirely different level.
In the past, his role has been to provide the equipment and drugs to the
patients, who then proceed to "flip the switch" on themselves.
He has been tried and acquitted three times.
This time, after receiving written consent twice from a man with the
incurable Lou Gehrig's disease who was afraid of choking to death on his
own saliva, "Dr. Death" injected the drugs himself.
How do I know this? Because Dr. Kevorkian videotaped the entire scene
and "60 Minutes" aired it last Sunday, along with an interview
with Dr. Kevorkian. Watching the show provoked many feelings.
I was sickened to see the death of this man. The first drug injected
into his arm was a sleeping drug and the second was a muscle relaxant. The
relaxant caused his body to stop functioning correctly. The man slumped
back in his wheelchair and it was evident his lungs were suffocated from
lack of oxygen. The last drug he received was one that went directly to
the heart muscle to stop it from pumping. The man was dead within a minute.
Again, I did not find this inhumane or torturous because the man was
knocked out and could not feel a thing. I am just very sensitive to pain,
and watching others suffer, and as I sat there, chills ran up my back and
I wanted to regurgitate everything sitting in my stomach.
At the same time, I could have very well gotten up and turned the television
off, said and done. But I continued to watch without even a blink of the
eye.
The question arises, should that tape have been aired on national television?
Yes, it most certainly should have. Should my 9-year-old brother have witnessed
it? I am not sure, but decisions like those are left up to my parents.
It becomes not only an ethical debate, but one of censorship also. The
tape was not hyped up or violent. It was reality and it was disturbing.
But guess what? This issue -- death -- is one that we must all face at some
point. I realize I was uncomfortable watching it because it hit close to
home and it was real.
During Dr. Kevorkian's interview, the reporter asked him why he would
so blatantly defy the law and provide proof to the court. His answer: because
he is tired of people persecuting, condemning and attempting to stop him
from doing what he feels is compassionate, humane and right. He said he
must be arrested now and that was his intention.
Dr. Kevorkian wants to bring the issue of physician assisted suicide
to light. He is sick of the courts tabling it. "Either they [prosecutors]
go or I go," he told "60 Minutes," meaning that either the
prosecutors lose and leave him alone or he loses and starves in jail. This
man is not joking, nor is he doing this for attention or to get a rise out
of society. He feels so strongly on this that he is willing to be sentenced
to life in prison.
The most profound and honest statement he made was when he told "60
Minutes" that he is doing this for himself. He will be 71 soon and
as he gets older he wants to be assured that if he ever becomes terminally
ill, a colleague can come over and assist in his own suicide.
"I'm fighting for me. Now, that sounds selfish, but if it helps
everybody else, so be it," he said.
Dr. Kevorkian believes physician-assisted suicide is more reliable and
humane and there is "better control."
Is that not what personal choice is all about? Being selfish? But, whether
Dr. Kevorkian realizes it or not, he is a far cry from selfish. He is attempting
to make death and disease as peaceful as possible for everyone, not just
himself.
Human life is valuable. Life is about choices, which are just as valuable.
Dr. Kevorkian said, "If you don't have liberty and self-determination,
you have nothing. This is the ultimate self-determination -- when and how
you're going to die."
Jennifer Parsons, a junior journalism major, is editor in chief of
the Campus Times. She can be reached by e-mail at parsonsj@ulv.edu.
