Assisted-suicide crusader Kevorkian dies

Jack Kevorkian, who became the face of the assisted-suicide movement while helping a self-estimated 130 people kill themselves in the 1990s, died June 3.

Kevorkian, 83, passed away in a Royal Oak, Mich., hospital, where he was being treated for heart and kidney problems, according to the Detroit Free Press.

"Dr. Death," as Kevorkian was known, became famous as an assisted-suicide advocate and practitioner. A pathologist, Kevorkian flaunted Michigan law but managed to escape murder convictions in four trials, the Free Press reported. He was convicted of second-degree murder for his part in a 1998 euthanasia death and served eight years and a month before being paroled in 2007.

In a 2006 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Kevorkian said he still supported assisted suicide but thought he should have tried to change the law rather than assist illegally in people's deaths.

"Many of the victims on whom Jack Kevorkian preyed were people with disabilities who had no terminal illness; one was simply old. In at least five cases autopsies were unable to confirm any disease at all," observed Burke J. Balch, J.D., director of National Right to Life's Robert Powell Center for Medical Ethics.

While Kevorkian gained widespread media attention and a number of supporters as an advocate for so-called "death with dignity," about 70 percent of those he helped die were not terminally ill, said pro-life, bioethics specialist Wesley Smith in a 2006 article for The Weekly Standard. "Most were disabled and depressed," Smith wrote. "At least five had no discernible illnesses upon autopsy."

“His tragic legacy illustrates the dangers to the most vulnerable when compassionate, humane responses to depression or disability are replaced with death as an acceptable final solution," Balch added.

It is hypocritical that Kevorkian did not end his life in the same way he advocated and helped others to end theirs. He died a natural death while listening to soothing music in a hospital according to news reports. The individuals that had come to him in desperation seeking “end-of-life” help ended up taking a killer drug cocktail and dying in vans and motels rooms — alone.

BP and Christian Examiner staff contributed to this blog.