Dr. Kevorkian and Euthanasia

Dr. Kevorkian portrays one of the most frightening forms of euthanasia, which is when a person decides that someone else's life is not worth living, and kills them. It is wrong to directly intend the death of an innocent human being, including oneself. If it is wrong to kill directly, it is wrong to assist in direct killing, even in the case of voluntary suicide of a terminally ill patient. A crippled person, a mentally retarted person, or even an elderly person is no less valuable than a young healthy life. The fact that they contribute less to the economy has nothing to do with their value as human beings. Gorsuch explains that Dereck Humphry, founder of the Hemlock Society, a group devoted to promoting the legalization of euthanasia has praised Dr. Kevorkian for "breaking the medical taboo on euthanasia". Humphry remarks, "Dr. Kevorkian is hardly without allies" (2). Dr. Kevorkian unfortunately does not walk alone in the battle to legalize euthanasia/PAS.

Rita Marker in the article "Dying for the Cause" observes the first group in the United States to publicly admit that they offered assistance in committing suicide was the Hemlock Society; they proudly stepped forward and spoke out. The Hemlock Society was formed in its own words, "to help terminal patients remain control over how their lives come to an end including the option of hastening inevitable death." All of the right-to-die organizations formed by the private foundations that fund their attempts to legalize not only assisted suicide, but euthanasia. Few people realize the vital role private foundations play in promoting societal change, and the major shifts in public attitudes and public policy come not from grassroots clamor, but rather from the hard work of a few committed activists with the ideas and the donors who fund them. Some private foundations that fund the assisted suicide groups prefer to distance themselves from the actual controversy.

William Stubing, president of the Greenwall Foundation, explains, remarkably enough, that Greenwall "takes no stand on any issues which it funds" (1-2). Without money, those inspired to agitate for change would not get exceptionally far. It is wrong to fund a group that has an objective of murder. There are many positive organizations that need money for a good cause. Unfortunately, the government is unable to control who funds the right-to-die organizations. The government however, plays a vital role in the courts decision making over the constitutional rights of euthanasia and PAS. Gorsuch explains that a judge named Rothstien observed the most intimate and personal choices a person may make in a lifetime, which constitutes a choice of personal dignity and autonomy, which are protected by the 14th amendment. The growing debate over PAS and euthanasia has produced increasing political activism. Since 1992, many bills have been introduced to legalize assisted suicide or euthanasia. All have failed so far (4). Gittleman states, "It appears that the principle American society holds in highest regard is the individuals right to self-determination; that the most good is done by allowing people to carry out their own affairs with as little intrusion by the government as possible".

Medical information has become more widely disseminated and civil rights have been legislated; the patient has become part of the medical-decision-making, and ultimately the final decision maker (5). The risks of this reasoning are that people will do things harmful not only to individuals but also to society. When a society is harmed but the actions of one or a few individuals, then government has an interest in controlling the actions of those individuals. From this perspective, the argument over euthanasia and PAS is less about death and more about the legislation and personal freedom. Legalizing euthanasia would cause society to devalue all life, but especially the lives of the dying, the disabled, and the elderly. Charles Daughtery from the book Euthanasia Opposing Viewpoints believes these developments would harm individuals in the health care system and the common good for society. The ill would soon feel obligated to commit suicide and physicians would feel obligated to assist (64). The article "Euthanasia: A Case of Individual Liberty" provides an example of how euthanasia and PAS have harmed society.

A doctor diagnosed a woman with cancer in which he checked her into the hospital on Thursday and began treatment. The treatment was quite successful because by Saturday she was showing improvement. On Sunday he was quite hopeful she would fully recover. However, on Monday, he came to visit her and there was a different patient in her bed. He asked the hospital staff where they had moved her and a resident replied, "Oh, we needed a bed, so we gave her the injection last night". The resident meant a lethal injection (2). This woman was deliberately killed for a hospital bed. Someone should be held responsible for her death, because killing someone else is wrong, regardless of the motivation or circumstances. James Budziseuski reports in the book The Ethics of Euthanasia, that the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) issued a policy on November of 1998 that states using drugs to commit suicide is not permitted under federal drug laws and that the US government would impose severe punishment on any doctor who prescribed lethal drugs to patients (6). PAS is not a treatment, but murder; the government is becoming notably involved when holding Doctors accountable for prescribing "death" drugs. Although the government has a strict policy over euthanasia and PAS there are two issues that remain. The first issue deals with the terminally ill patients who are depressed and say that they want to die, stated Johansen.

These people are no different from anyone else who thinks about suicide; they just have medical problems, in additions, to their emotional or psychological problems. Some ill people become frustrated that they cannot lead the kind of active lives that they used to before their Page 8 illness; while others feel they are a burden upon their family. Psychologists have found that when people talk about or attempt suicide the majority to them do not want to die (1). To tell such a person that they have the "right" to commit suicide and that some physicians would help, in implying that they are wasting the time of doctors, and the world would be better off without them. Daniel Ellen from the book Taking Sides points out patients that desire an early death have been proven to have diagnosable psychiatric mental illness; this is a common depressive condition that can be treated (30). Suicide is not a form of medicine; it is the cheapest and easiest way of making a painful sight go away.

Johansen indicated that the second issue pertains to people who are suffering from illness that make them unable to communicate. This includes people who are in a coma, or paralyzed, or simply so sick and weak they cannot make meaningful sounds or any other form of communication. In the US, the most frequent way of killing such people is by taking away their foods and fluids, so they can starve to death. This is called passive euthanasia because they are not directly killing the person; they just define foods and fluids as "medical treatment" in which they stop. They typically give the patient drugs to prevent their bodies form going into convulsions as they starve because this is disturbing to family and friends who come and see the person "die peacefully" (2). This must be the most agonizing ways to die. When distinguishing between the extraordinary medical care, and simply providing a warm bed, food, and water, and simple medication there is no point of making a human being suffer from these few natural resources. Patients are rarely informed about the side effects of euthanasia and PAS. They think they may be choosing the "good" death, but consequently they are not. Dr. Nuland Sherwin points out in his article "Problems Associated With Assisted-Suicide" that certain problems are exceedingly possible when assisting a suicide. Overdoses of barbiturates, a substance that is commonly used for PAS, are known to cause major distress.