As Kevorkian put it, the law against assisted suicide is “a medieval concept” that requires review to attend to the needs of irreversibly suffering and terminally ill patients. (Mazer). I hold the view that the actions of Kevorkian in helping suffering patients die peacefully is morally right.
(Crocker, 2) argues that “assisted suicide is the administration of a lethal drug by a physician, who does it with the consent of a patient and with the aim of ending the patient’s life”. Physician-assisted suicide is legal in states such as Montana, Oregon, Washington and Vermont for terminally ill patients. Terminally ill patients are defined as those diagnosed by a physician to have a life expectancy of 6 months or less. The law also requires that patients should request assisted suicide at least twice and be allowed two weeks before the administration of lethal drugs. The laws in the States where assisted suicide is legalized pay particular focus on the motive behind the request for termination of life and only allows such request in cases of a terminal illness where life expectancy is 6 months or less. , (Crocker, 4) however argues that patients with irreversible suffering conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, or crippled persons who have lost autonomy and quality of life should also be allowed with the opportunity to undertake assisted suicide. The outcome of the process should be limited to eliminating suffering caused by irreversible medical conditions through a peaceful process.
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“ You Don’t Know Jack” is a film that depicts the philosophical question regarding the morality of assisted suicide. The film is based on the book “Between the Dying and the Dead” by Neal Nicol and Harry Wylie which evaluated the morality of assisted suicide which is illegal in Michigan. The philosopher can be understood as wanting to raise a public debate about the morality of suicide killing. In the play, Dr Kevorkian develops a friendly method of death that includes self-administration of a saline solution, followed by thiopental to drive a patient into a coma, and finally potassium chloride to stop the heart from functioning. The method is developed to assist David Rivlin, a quadriplegic who sought a court order to have the respirator removed to attract slow death. Rivlin is however unimpressed by Dr Jack’s death method and is finally assisted to die through the cruel removal of the respirator and withdrawal of food and water. The method used to end Rivlin’s life is not only cruel but inflicts further suffering to the patient. The death of suffering patients ought to be induced in a manner that is least painful to ensure that the death process is peaceful. The argument that withdrawing respirator, food, and water is leaving the death to the act of God does not hold water given that there is human intervention. (Mazer).
Dr Kevorkian’s first client is Janet who is suffering from Alzheimer’s and is ready to die rather than live with confusion and loss of memory. Dr Kevorkian activities attract support from a section of the public while the others are in strong opposition including Thompson, Oakland County prosecutor who however lacks sufficient legal grounds to win a case against Dr Jack. David Gorcyca, who later takes over the position of the prosecutor from Thompson is not willing to spend money on losing cases and would not prosecute Dr Jack for assisting suicide. Dr Jack is however charged for a second-degree murder of Youk who cannot administer the drugs himself because of the impact of amyotrophic sclerosis. Dr Kevorkian wants the case to be determined by the US Supreme Court but fails. The film presents the suffering of the various patients who are in dire need for a means to end their sufferings through death. (Mazer)
The argument in support of assisted suicide mainly focuses on the quality of life rather than ethics. (Crocker, 4), defines the quality of life as the happiness derived through living. Using this approach, patients who are terminally ill or irreversibly suffering are seen as having lost the quality of life and autonomy and are therefore allowed to die at will. The concept of the quality of life is linked to the utilitarian theory, which argues for the maximization of happiness without consideration of the act of God or ethics. Based on the utilitarian theory, people experiencing irreversible suffering can make the decision to end their life as a means of alleviating suffering. ( Mandal, et al). The growing number of people seeking assisted suicide in the states of Oregon and Washington is an indication of the growing popularity of the philosophy. (Crocker, 6),
Works Cited
Crocker, Kelly. "Why Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide are Morally Permissible." (2013).
Enck, Gavin. "Six-step framework for ethical decision making." Journal of health services research & policy 19.1 (2014): 62-64.
Mandal, Jharna, Dinoop Korol Ponnambath, and Subhash Chandra Parija. "Utilitarian and deontological ethics in medicine." Tropical parasitology 6.1 (2016): 5.
Mazer, Adam. "You Don't Know." Netflix , 2010, dvd.netflix.com/Movie/You-Don-t-Know-Jack/70126831.
