HBO Revives Euthanasia Controversy with You Don't Know Jack

Euthanasia has long been a controversial topic in medicine, religion, politics, courtrooms, and moral majority communities. The word euthanasia comes from a Greek word meaning "good death" and has been referred to as mercy killing, assisted suicide, and hastened dying. Euthanasia is the intentional act of taking a life by act or omission for the benefit of the patient. As Dr. Kevorkian often argued: you starve someone when you pull the plug in the hospital, so what is the difference in that and assisting with death in a more humane way?

The incredibly engaging HBO Movie, You Don't Know Jack, starring Al Pacino delivering a creepy, clone-like depiction of Jack Kevorkian and directed by Barry Levinson (Rain Man), revived my memories of Dr. Death. I recall when Kevorkian was practicing assisted suicide, relentlessly battling public opinion, and starving himself in jail cells long before being sentenced to prison.

The idea of using your own blood in your paintings was not big deal. After all, Angelina Jolie wore Billy Bob Thornton's blood in a vial around her neck. It isn't until you saw the gallery of bizarre paintings that you start to get really scared about who Jack Kevorkian really is. I remember thinking at the time that Jack Kevorkian was a creepy quack, but then sometimes, he made some arguably valid points about legalizing assisted suicide that rocked you right off your moral clogs.

Most people could not admit that they might agree a little bit with Kevorkian or his assisted suicide viewpoints because he was such a weirdo. I thought the movie gave an uncanny realistic portrayal of exactly how I remember the 1990's and Jack Kevorkian with his Mercitron Machine. But, the HBO Dr. Death Movie You Don't Know Jack did more than that.

Jack Kevorkian performed his first act of euthanasia in 1989 when I was 33 years old. Dr. Kevorkian's first assisted suicide patient was Janet Adkins, a 54-year old Alzheimer's patient. Dr. Kevorkian would go on to assist 130 people with their deaths. I am now 54 years old, and as I watched the HBO Movie, You Don't Know Jack, I found myself deeply exploring whether being older has changed my opinion of assisted suicide?

I was born the year Jack Kevorkian first became known as Dr. Death in 1956 when he photographed people's eyeballs as they died. Kevorkian is a pathologist and was working on a study of death. Kevorkian found that the blood vessels in the eye's cornea contract when the heart stops beating and they become invisible. Then, in 1958 he suggested euthanizing prisoners and harvesting their organs. When that did not work, in 1960, Dr. Jack Kevorkian suggested we use prisoners to conduct medical experiments. While I was too young to remember these media reports, they surfaced again in 1989.

When I first saw Dr. Death on the news in 1989, I was working in educational publishing, so news about Kevorkian and the controversy he created about euthanasia was relevant not only to my job, but my religion, my social circle, and my family members. We talked about living wills and whether or not any of us children would be able to "pull the plug" on our Mother or Father, even if that was their wishes in their dying days. At that time, being 33 years old, you just say to your Mom and Dad, "STOP talking about this, it is gross!" What I didn't realize at the time, was the topic is of utmost importance when you are 54 years old.

Let me say now, that I cannot support suicide or intentionally killing someone in any situation, nor could my family members because of our religious beliefs. We have living wills that legally support not medically sustaining artificial life, but not intended to end a life that is going to end by natural causes any way.

When my Mother died, she lay unconscious in her hospital bed, with all three of her children by her side, and it would be two days before she gasped her last breath. The family had much support and comfort from Church members and friends. The doctors told us that the medications she was receiving would no longer sustain her life. They asked if we wanted them to "put her on comfort care only."

In the most bizarre coincidence, Dr. Jack Kevorkian was released from prison on June 1, 2007 and my Mom died on June 4, 2007. I wrote about this experience in 2007, the year Dr. Kevorkian was free after eight years in a jail cell. You can read how we made the decision for "comfort care only in my article titled, When the Doctor Asks, "Would You Like to Order Comfort Care Only?"

In a weird way, I thought of Dr. Kevorkian for the two days my Mother lay dying. I thought to myself, would my Mom pull the string of Dr. Kevorkian's assisted suicide machine to just get it over with? Would I want to?

Sources:

Jack Kevorkian

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kevorkian/

Jack Kevorkian

http://www.fansoffieger.com/kevo.htm

You Don't Know Jack HBO Movie Trailer

http://www.hbo.com/movies/you-dont-know-jack/video/trailer-1.html?autoplay=true&cmpid=ABC271

When the Doctor Asks, "Would You Like to Order Comfort Care Only?"http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/294003/when_the_doctor_asks_would_you_like.html?cat=5