HINTON 1

Melissa Hinton
Professor Dr. Anna Netterville
CJUS 20507.2 Applied Exercise
10/01/2013
Dr. Jack Kevorkian, was an American pathologist who advocated for physician-assisted
suicide, otherwise known as Euthanasia. He was tried four times between May 1994 and June
1997. A gentlemen, named Thomas Youk, had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
(ALSLou Gehrigs disease) and sought out Kevorkians assistance with his suicide. Rather
than Youk wait to see if his wish of assisted suicide be determined by the courts, he chose to
seek out Dr. Kevorkian.
Kevorkian was being charged with second degree murder and delivering a controlled
substance in the case of People of the State of Michigan v. Jack Kevorkian, 1999. At the
beginning of the trial, David Gorosh was Kevorkians attorney. However, Dr. Kevorkian felt
that Mr. Gorosh didnt provide adequate representation. Therefore, he fired his attorney and
represented himself for the remainder of the trial. In addition to this legal woe, Kevorkian also
believed that the prosecution violated his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. He based his
feelings upon the prosecutions objections to his closing arguments where the evidence did not
exist.
During the trial Kevorkian presented evidence of the process that Mr. Youk went through
before and during his. The first piece of evidence that was introduced by the doctor was a
videotape that he made of Youk describing his condition. The patient went on to state that he
was confined to his wheelchair and couldnt use either of his legs or his left arm. In addition to
his right arm being barely functional, he was fed through a feeding tube and was put on a
medical ventilator so that he could breathe. After describing his illness and how it affected his
life, Youk signed a consent form designating Kevorkian as the one who would be giving him a
lethal injection to end his life. The consent form stated:
I, Thomas Youk, the undersigned, entirely voluntarily, without any reservation,
external persuasion, pressure, or duress, and after prolonged and thorough
deliberation, hereby consent to the following medical procedure of my own
choosing, and that you have chosen direct injection, or what they call active
euthanasia, to be administered by a competent medical professional, in order to
end with certainty my intolerable and hopelessly incurable suffering. (People of
the State of Michigan v. Jack Kevorkian)

The next piece of evidence presented by Kevorkian was the actual act of Euthanasia.
Kevorkian administered the lethal injection to Mr. Youk and he perished. Kevorkian was
successful in assisting Youk with his suicide. Normally, a machine would have been used and

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Youk would have proceeded with injecting himself with the machine. Kevorkian saw this act as
a merciful one. He placed a cardiogram over Youks heart and ran the wires to the
electrocardiogram. He was then injected with Anectine and Seconal; moments later he was
injected with potassium chloride. This commentary was provided on the recorded videotape:
Sleepy Tom? Tom are you asleep? And now we'll inject the Anectine. You asleep
Tom? Tom? You asleep? He's asleep. Now the Potassium Chloride. This machine
is recording for some reason so I'm pulling it by hand until the heart stops. It's
been, it's been about two minutes since I injected the, ah, seconal, and one minute
since I injected the. Now we're getting agonal complexes and that's about the,
the Potassium Chloride will stop the heart, so. Now there's a straight line. A
straight line and the cardiogram will be turned off. His heart is stopped. (People of
the State of Michigan v. Jack Kevorkian)
The right to assisted suicide is not something that is protected under the Due Process
Clause. Because the Constitution of the United States does not guaranteed the right of assistance
in suicide, it holds no legal merit. It was determined upon Youks autopsy that the debilitating
disease that hed suffered from was not his cause of death, it was instead the lethal injections
hed received at the hands of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, therefore a homicide had resulted.
During his trial Kevorkian maintains that the only relief Youk would find would be
through him. It was the only way to end his intolerable suffering. He also made the point that no
pain medications would alleviate the pain that Youk was going through. Kevorkian argued that
this was a perfect test case to prove his points considering physician assisted suicide. However,
the courts disagreed with him
Judge Jessica Cooper stated before sentencing Dr. Jack Kevorkian to 10-25 years in
prison:
This is a court of law and you said you invited yourself here to take a final stand.
But this trial was not an opportunity for a referendum. The law prohibiting
euthanasia was specifically reviewed and clarified by the Michigan Supreme
Court several years ago in a decision involving your very own cases, sir. So the
charge here should come as no surprise to you. You invited yourself to the wrong
forum. Well, we are a nation of laws, and we are a nation that tolerates differences
of opinion because we have a civilized and a nonviolent way of resolving our
conflicts that weighs the law and adheres to the law. We have the means and the
methods to protest the laws with which we disagree. You can criticize the law,
you can write or lecture about the law, and (sic) you can speak to the media or
petition the voters. (Consider Yourself Stopped)
Kevorkian spent 8-years in prison and was released on good behavior on September 29,
2005. He was to never practice medicine or Euthanasia again. The only thing he continued to do
was try to persuade states to change their laws on Euthanasia. After his trial he expressed his
regret about representing himself in his court case. Subsequently, he died at the age of 83 in
2011.

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References
Bloomberg Law. "People v. Kevorkian." Case brief. n.d. <http://www.casebriefs.com/blog/law/criminallaw/criminal-law-keyed-to-dressler/general-defenses-to-crimes/people-v-kevorkian/>.
Consider Yourself Stopped. 11 May 1999. National Right to Life News.
<http://www.thefreelibrary.com/%22Consider+Yourself+Stopped%22.-a055355022>.
People of the State of Michigan v. Jack Kevorkian. No. 221758. Oakland Circuit Court. 1999.