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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.