Medicine

Jeffrey A. Singer | 3.26.2024 7:00 AM

Today marks the 25th anniversary of Dr. Jack Kevorkian's conviction of second-degree murder for performing euthanasia on Thomas Youk, a Michigan man suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's Disease. Kevorkian, a medical pathologist, had been defying state laws by engaging in assisted suicide—he claimed to help more than 130 people die— often using machines he invented like the Thanatron (which delivered lethal doses of narcotics) and the Mercitron (which delivered carbon monoxide) and instructing patients how to use them to commit suicide. But this was different. Kevorkian was not assisting a suicide. Kevorkian videotaped himself injecting Youk with lethal chemicals. He was doing all the work. And despite having received Youk's informed consent, the Michigan Court considered it murder.

The United States has come a long way since Kevorkian began crusading to legalize assisted suicide. Today, physician-assisted suicide is legal in 11 jurisdictions: California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Montana, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington. One can think of physician-assisted suicide as "active euthanasia" because the physician is providing the means and the instructions, but the patient performs the suicide. "Passive" euthanasia, where a physician or other caregiver ends a patient's life while the patient acquiesces, is illegal throughout the US.

Autonomous adults have the right to govern their bodies freely, provided........

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