Dr. Jack Kevorkian, AKA “Dr. Death,” who helped dozens of sick people commit suicide has died at age 83. Ironically, he died after a prolonged illness in a hospital bed – exactly the kind of death he helped his patients avoid.
Many people will say many things about this man and his deeply flawed methods, but I believe we would not have had this vitally important public conversation about death and self determination without him. He was an angel to those whose suffering he relieved at their request and a devil to those who despised his methods and message. Although his publicity seeking and death-obsessed art was off putting to even those that supported his message, he should be recognized as the trailblazer he was in bringing end of life issues to the forefront of American discourse. I only hope that dying in a hospital bed was what he wanted. Because that’s ultimately what Dr. Kevorkian was about: choice.
RIP Jack.