Jack Kevorkian

Jack Kevorkian

Jack Kevorkian was born in 1928 in Pontiac, Michigan, to Armenian immigrants. He grew up in Pontiac and went on to college and medical school at the University of Michigan, where he received his medical degree in 1952. Dr Kevorkian chose pathology as his specialty, which involves trying to determine causes of disease and death. He served in Korea as an Army medical officer, then came back to Michigan and began residency.

It was apparent that Dr. Kevorkian had an obsession with death even in his residency, where he often requested to work the night shift because more patients died at night. It was during his residency where he first acquired the nickname Dr. Death. He experimented with photographing the eyes of dying patients trying to determine the exact time of death. He proposed experimenting on prisoners being executed, but his proposals were rejected by professional journals and he did not carry out any experiments.

In the late 1950’s and early 60’s, Dr. Kevorkian began experimenting with transfusing blood from corpses to living patients. Kevorkian published this research, and he thought this technique might have battlefield use but his suggestion was rejected by the Defense Department. Around this time Kevorkian began painting death-themed pictures. Kevorkian artwork: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kevorkian/aboutk/art/index.html

Kevorkian continued to work as a pathologist in the 1960’s and 70’s. In 1970 he became engaged but later broke it off; he remains a lifelong bachelor. In the late 1970’s Kevorkian moved to California and produced a feature-length film about Handel’s Messiah which flopped and which Kevorkian talked little about after becoming famous. After making...

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...e Press, March 7, 1997. Online at http://www.freep.com/suicide/qwatch7.htmMurphy, Brian, and

Djansezian, Kevork. “’Gandhi’ star may play Kevorkian.” USA Today People section, Oct. 18, 2004. http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2004-10-18-kevorkian_x.htm

Garsten, Ed, and Reuters. “Kevorkian gets 10 to 25 years in prison.” CNN.com, April 13, 1999. http://www.cnn.com/US/9904/13/kevorkian.03/

PBS and WGBH/Frontline. Chronology of Dr. Jack Kevorkian’s life and assisted suicide campaign. 1998. The Kevorkian Verdict (Frontline special). Online at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kevorkian/chronology.html

Swickard, Joe. “Convicted of murder: Kevorkian could spend the rest of his life in prison. He’s out on bond with a promise not to aid in a death.” Detroit Free Press, March 27, 1999. Online at http://www.freep.com/news/extra2/qkevo272.htm