and another thing ...: Excerpt: Kevorkian on First Assisted Suicide in 1990
Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the high-profile advocate for physician-assisted euthanasia, died at a Michigan hospital at age 83. In this excerpt from a June 1990 NewsHour interview, Kevorkian explains and defends his actions in his first assisted suicide case, which involved Janet Adkins, a Portland woman with Alzheimer’s disease.
Kevorkian said he helped more than 130 terminally ill people end their lives between 1990 and 1998. Authorities tried repeatedly to prosecute Kevorkian before he was finally convicted in 1999 after allowing “60 Minutes” to broadcast the lethal injection of a patient.
For more on Kevorkian, Frontline produced an in-depth documentary on the “suicide doctor” in 1996.
And Oregon became the first state legalizing Death With Dignity aka physician assisted suicide, no doubt spurred on by Dr. Kevorkian’s work. He was a remarkable human being. I feel a great comfort just knowing that if I ever get to that place my doctor will be there for me. There’s a 2011 documentary called How to Die In Oregon, which is currently airing on HBO.
