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Dr.Kevorkian

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Submitted By swan523
Words 1955
Pages 8
Physician-assisted suicide (PAS), also known as active euthanasia; involves the hastening of death through administration of a lethal dose of pharmaceutical drugs, at the request of the terminally-ill patient (Law Digest, 2013). This practice fueled debates about legal and ethical practices in the medical field. Suffering has always been a part of human existence, along with request’s to end these conditions. Death through PAS or euthanasia has been continuously controverted since the beginning of medicine. Advocates of physician assisted suicide feel they have the right to avoid excruciating pain, prolonged suffering, and embrace a timely and dignified death. Adversaries of PAS contend that physicians have a moral responsibility to keep their patients alive as determined in the Hippocratic Oath (one of the oldest binding documents written in history, still bring used by physicians). In 1990, Physician- Assisted Suicide became better known to the public when retired pathologist, Dr. Jack Kevorkian assisted his first patient, Janet Adkins, into death. News of Adkins’ death made him a national celebrity and criminal, but ultimately encouraged Kevorkian to rebel and proceed with what he considered, his duty. Murad Kevorkian, better known as Dr. Jack Kevorkian was born on May 26, 1928, in Pontiac, Michigan. He was the middle of 3 children (two girls and himself), born to Levon and Satenig Kevorkian; Armenian immigrants and refugees. Jack had appreciation for his strict upbringing; however he had conflicting religious viewpoints with his parents. At the age of 12, he stopped attending church with his family. He felt that if there were a God who could make his son walk on water, he would also have been able to prevent the Turkish slaughter of his entire extended family (bio.com, 2013). After he debated God's existence, he concluded that there were not

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