“I can’t Function as a human being… I want the right to die,” pleaded Sherry Miller, patient of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the famous “Death Doctor” (Chermak 107). The entitlement to commit suicide was never a problem, that is until it was challenged by Dr. Jack Kevorkian. Kevorkian was born in Pontiac, Michigan in 1928 (Chermak 101). His infatuation with death started when his mother died from cancer. Kevorkian wanted to find an easier way to help people carry out their death wishes; therefore, his solution was a suicide machine (Chermak 103). In this way, more than 130 were helped by Dr. Kevorkian and his suicide machine (Chua-Eoan). Although Kevorkian was tried five times, he was found innocent four times (Chermak 108-115). His jury had an onerous time coming to their conclusion. Throughout Twelve Angry Men, written by Reginald Rose, Twelve jurors had to decide the fate of one boy convicted of stabbing his father in the chest. In the beginning, eleven of the twelve were positive that the boy was guilty and nothing could change their minds, but Juror Eight disagreed. He showed them the holes in each of the testimonies. After hours of debating, Juror Eight was able to convince most the jury into seeing reasonable doubt in the boys guilt. When the last vote was taken, the tally was eleven to one in favor of innocent. In the end, there are many similarities between the jurors from Twelve Angry Men and the jurors of the Kevorkian trials because they all had a complicated trial, and their rulings were influenced by their personal thoughts and pasts.
Throughout Dr. Kevorkian’s career, he challenged the law unlike many. Kevorkian was tried five times, but four out of the five he was found innocent due to the complications with his offences o...
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...od, 2007. Print.
Chua-Eoan, Howard. “Jack Kevorkian.” Time 20 June 2011: 16. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
Cohen, Adam Grace, Julie Tynan, William. "Showdown For Doctor Death." Time 152.23 (1998): 46. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
Hosenball, Mark. “The Real Jack KEvorkian.” Newsweek 122.23 (1993): 28. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
Lessenberry, Jack. "Jury Acquits Kevorkian in Common-Law Case." The New York Times. 14 May 1996. The New York Times. 24 Apr. 2014.
Morgenthau, Tom Barrett, Todd. “Dr. Kevorkian’s Death Wish.” Newsweek 121.0 (1993): 46. MAS Ultra-School Edition. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.
Rose, Reginald. Twelve Angry Men. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.
Shapiro, Joseph P.Bowermaster, David. “Death On Trial. (Cover Story).” U.S. News & World Report 116.16 (1994): 31. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
Dworkin, Gerald. " The Nature of Medicine." Euthanasia and Physician Assisted Suicide: For and Against. 1st ed. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1998.
Dr. Kevorkian was seen differently by many people. Some people thought that he was a good person while other people saw him as a criminal for helping people end their life. Due to his actions many laws have been created against assisted suicide. Even though he was charged with murders and for breaking the law he still kept on helping people. This showed that he cared a lot about his patients. The Kevorkian that started as a quiet religious child grew up to be a highly debatable person.
Bowers, W, Pierce, G., and McDevitt, J.(1984), Legal Homicide: Death as Punishment in America, 1964-1982, 333
Dr. Jack Kevorkian assisted over a hundred people in ending their lives voluntarily. He was tried and convicted of second degree murder despite the fact that all of his patients willingly participated and asked him for help in ending their lives (“Jack Kevorkian”). What led to his demise was in one of his cases, unlike his prior patients, he actively participated in the death of the patient with a lethal injection (“Jack Kevorkian”). The man was too weak to do it himself and it was videotaped, which was used as evidence in his case against him. Dr. Jack Kevorkian helped multitudes of competent terminally ill patients, end their suffering and pain (“Jack Kevorkian”). Usually in assisted suicide cases the doctor prescribes a lethal dose of a prescription, but the patient must administer the medication on their own, with no help from anyone else including the physician. This prescription is only ordered after the patient has stated two different times on two different occasions with fourteen days in between and sometimes with written consent, that they agree to the decision to end their life with the help of their physician through a lethal dose of a prescription.
Throughout America’s history, capital punishment, or the death penalty, has been used to punish criminals for murder and other capital crimes. In the early 20th century, numerous people would gather for public executions. The media described these events gruesome and barbaric (“Infobase Learning”). People began to wonder if the capital punishment was really constitutional.
Euthanasia, or mercy killing, can be defined as the "intentional termination of life by another at the explicit request of the person who dies" (Euthanasia). The infamous Dr. Kevorkian is known for assisting many people in their suicides. He was eventually tried and convicted for his role in this area. What crime did he commit? The people whom he assisted sought him out to help them have a calm and peaceful death under their own control. During Dr. Kevorkian's trial, questions were raised suggesting ...
Schneider Keith, “DR. Jack Kevorkian Dies at 83; A Doctor who helped End Lives”. The New York Times. Arthur Sulzberger Jr. 3, June 2011. Online Newspaper 2014
Guilty or not guilty? This the key question during the murder trial of a young man accused of fatally stabbing his father. The play 12 Angry Men, by Reginald Rose, introduces to the audience twelve members of a jury made up of contrasting men from various backgrounds. One of the most critical elements of the play is how the personalities and experiences of these men influence their initial majority vote of guilty. Three of the most influential members include juror #3, juror #10, and juror #11. Their past experiences and personal bias determine their thoughts and opinions on the case. Therefore, how a person feels inside is reflected in his/her thoughts, opinions, and behavior.
...ed United States. U.S. Government Accounting Office. Capital Punishment. Washington: GPO, 1994 Cheatwood, Derral and Keith Harries. The Geography of Execution: The Capital Punishment Quagmire in America. Rowman, 1996 NAACP Legal Defense Fund . Death Row. New York: Hein, 1996 "Ex-Death Row Inmate Cleared of Charges." USA Today 11 Mar. 1999: 2A "Fatal Flaws: Innocence and the Death Penalty." Amnesty International. 10 Oct. 1999 23 Oct. 1999 Gest, Ted. "House Without a Blue Print." US News and World Report 8 Jul. 1996: 41 Stevens, Michelle. "Unfairness in Life and Death." Chicago Sun-Times 7 Feb. 1999: 23A American Bar Association. The Task Ahead: Reconciling Justice with Politics. 1997 United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Uniform Crime Report. Washington: GPO, 1994 Wickham, DeWayne. "Call for a Death Penalty Moratorium." USA Today 8 Feb. 1999: 17A ILKMURPHY
According to West’s Encyclopedia of American Law, between 1990 and 1999, a well-known advocate for physician assisted suicide, Jack Kevorkian helped 130 patients end their lives. He began the debate on assisted suicide by assisting a man with committing suicide on national television. According to Dr. Kevorkian, “The voluntary self-elimination of individual and mortally diseased or crippled lives taken collectively can only enhance the preservation of public health and welfare” (Kevorkian). In other words, Kevor...
Andre, Claire, and Manuel Velasquez. “Capital Punishment.” Our Duty or Our Doom. 12 May 2010. 30 May 2010 .
“In 1999, Dr. Jack Kevorkian, a Michigan physician known for openly advertising that he would perform assisted suicide despite the fact that it was illegal, was convicted of second-degree murder” (Lee). The fact of the matter is human being...
Cotton, Paul. "Medicine's Position Is Both Pivotal And Precarious In Assisted Suicide Debate." The Journal of the American Association 1 Feb. 1995: 363-64.
“The case Against the Death Penalty.” aclu.org. American Civil Liberties Union, 2012. Web. 12 Feb. 2013
Urofsky, Melvin I. Lethal Judgments: Assisted Suicide and American Law. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2000. Print.