Asian Take On Kevorkian

An Asian take on the death of Jack Kevorkian.

Pulling the plug on your life, Dr Death

"Is this the face of a killer?” The legend runs across Al Pacino’s forehead in the promo for the 2010 television film, You Don’t Know Jack. Directed by Barry Levinson, the film won Pacino an Emmy, a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild award this year for his role as Jack Kevorkian, the assisted-suicide champion, better known as ‘Dr Death’ for helping more than 100 terminally-ill people end their lives.

Kervokian died on Friday at the age of 83 in a Michigan hospital, where he was being treated for kidney and heart disease.

Unlike the many people he helped let die, he did not take his own life, assisted or otherwise. He died of natural causes, from a blood clot that lodged in his heart and stopped it.

A pathologist by training, Kevorkian polarised debate over assisted suicide in the 1990s by driving across Michigan in an old Volkswagen van with a machine to help people with incurable diseases to die. Some called him a hero for helping people in pain to die with dignity, others shunned him as a killer who preyed on those suffering from chronic pain and depression. more

An Asian Doctor Gets It Right

A perfectly sane and reasoned rationale for not killing people who are suffering.

Embrace Life

. . . Now and then, the topic of euthanasia, or mercy killing, pops up in public discourse. When faced with an illness like advanced cancer that inflicts pain, suffering and ultimately death, should we go through with it or fast-forward?

 All our lives are accompanied by trials and tribulations. Some may argue that even in terrible situations like advanced cancer, there is light at the end of the tunnel. The "light" - in this sense - is the ultimate release: death.

I feel that such arguments miss the point. It is more important that we have loved ones and acquaintances who support us, help us and encourage us along the way. more