Jack Kevorkian

Jacob "Jack" Kevorkian (26 May 1928 – 3 June 2011) was an American pathologist. Nicknamed "Doctor Death," he was most noted for publicly championing a terminal patient's "right to die", aiding those who wanted to die to reach their goal without suffering. He has claimed to have assisted at least 130 patients to that end.

Dying is not a crime.

Am I a criminal? The world knows I'm not a criminal. What are they trying to put me in jail for? You've lost common sense in this society because of religious fanaticism and dogma.

I gambled and I lost. I failed in securing my options for this choice for myself, but I succeeded in verifying the Dark Age is still with us.

This is a medical service. It always was.

Quotes

• You're going to watch a person suffer in agony while somebody's debating?
  • Quoted in "Physician-assisted death"‎ - Page 100 - by James M. Humber, Robert F. Almeder, Gregg A. Kasting - 1994

• This is a medical service. It always was.
  • Quoted in "Physician-assisted death"‎ - Page 100 - by James M. Humber, Robert F. Almeder, Gregg A. Kasting - 1994

• This is not a trial. This is a lynching. There is no law.
  • Quoted in "The Michigan Alumnus‎" - Page 28 - by University of Michigan Alumni Association - 1996

• When your conscience says law is immoral, don't follow it.
  • Quoted in "Words of Wisdom‎" - by Mick Farren - Philosophy - 2004 - Page 122

• Am I a criminal? The world knows I'm not a criminal. What are they trying to put me in jail for? You've lost common sense in this society because of religious fanaticism and dogma.
  • Quoted in "Jail: An Inmates Survival Guide"‎ - Page 24 - by Panama Publishing, Inc. - 2007

• We need some honesty and sincerity instead of corrupt government in Washington.
  • As quoted in "Kevorkian Plans Congressional Run" (13 March 2008), Fox News

• When you transplant a heart from a baboon into a baby as we did, and you say the body of that baby is sacred, does that profane heart from the baboon become sacred when you place it in the body? Or when you take out a gallbladder and throw it in the garbage, is that a sacred gallbladder in the garbage? Or as soon as it's out of the body it loses its sanctity? You see the silliness of our mythology? Children ask the questions I'm just asking now. Trouble is, children get slapped for asking questions like that because they have no defense. But you can't slap me. I can ask the question. It's a logical question.
  • Interview with Neil Cavuto (2009), Fox News

• Dying is not a crime.
  • As quoted in Introducing Christian Ethics (2010), by Samuel Wells and Ben Quash, John Wiley and Sons, p. 329

Years of Minutes (2004)

Years of Minutes - by Andy Rooney (2004)

• As a medical doctor, it is my duty to evaluate the situation with as much data as I can gather and as much expertise as I have and as much experience as I have to determine whether or not the wish of the patient is medically justified.

• The Supreme Court of the United States... has validated the Nazi method of execution in... concentration camps, starving them to death!
  • Page 329

• My religion centers in different areas than what's considered conventional religion.
  • Page 331

• I will admit, like Socrates and Aristotle and Plato and some other philosophers, that there are instances where the death penalty would seem appropriate.
  • Page 332

• You're basing your laws and your whole outlook on natural life on mythology. It won't work. That's why you have all these problems in the world. Name them: India, Pakistan, Ireland. Name them-all these problems. They're all religious problems.
  • Page 339

Between the Dying and the Dead (2006)

Between the dying and the dead: Dr. Jack Kevorkian's life and the battle to Legalize Euthanasia - by Neal Nicol, Harry Wylie - 2006

• I gambled and I lost. I failed in securing my options for this choice for myself, but I succeeded in verifying the Dark Age is still with us.

• All the big powers...they've silenced me. So much for free speech and choice on this fundamental human right.

• It's the boredom that kills you. You read until you're tired of that. You do crossword puzzles until you're tired of that. This is torture. This is mental torture.

• The American people are sheep. They're comfortable, rich, working. It's like the Romans, they're happy with bread and their spectator sports. The Super Bowl means more to them than any right.

• There is nothing anyone can do anyway. The public has no power. The government knows I'm not a criminal. The parole board knows I'm not a criminal. The judge knows I'm not a criminal.

• When history looks back, it will prove what I'll die knowing.

• This could never be a crime in any society which deems itself enlightened.

External links

• Encyclopedic article on Jack Kevorkian on Wikipedia