Euthanasia The Strange Case of Dr. Kevorkian Essay

Euthanasia: The Strange Case of Dr. Kevorkian Physicians face an ethical dilemma when confronting their patients who are suffering. Many have to choose between abiding by the law or ignoring the law and acting on their own beliefs by assisting in a patient’s suicide. Dr. Jack Kevorkian is certainly one doctor who has taken the illegal route in assisting in many of his patients suicides. In â€Å"Killer Doc,† William F. Buckley provides a brief overview of the case and informs his audience of the shocking incidents of Kevorkian’s performed euthanasia on Thomas Youk. In â€Å"Offering a Helping Hand to those Who Long to Die,† Mark Nichols compares the famous euthanasia doctors, Dr. Kevorkian and Austrailia’s Dr. Philip Nitschke. Dr.†¦show more content†¦His pulmonary lungs were so weak that he feared he would choke to death. â€Å"Notwithstanding poor You’s incapacitation, Kevorkian did get him to write his signature not once, but twice, on successive declarations that he invited death and was begging Kevorkian to give him death† (Buckley 70). Buckley makes a noteworthy point of how Youk could sign his name, but couldn’t prompt his death from Kevorkian’s system. Kevorkian was later arrested and tried. The remainder of the article focuses on censoring this type of video that showed the killing of another human being. Buckley states how in the sixties, â€Å"snuff films† were accepted among the community as evidence and expression. However, nowadays, it is strongly opposed since a felony is taking place. In â€Å"Offering a Helping Hand to Those Who Long to Die,† Nichols starts out the article by giving a history of how Dr. Philip Nitschke got started. â€Å"Nitschke, 50, began administering death after territorial legislators made it legal almost two years ago for doctors to assist in the suicide of the terminally ill† (Nichols, 52). The author states how he continued to do it despite federal legislation passed last March. Nichols compares this man with Kevorkian by stating how Kevorkian â€Å"has presided over the death of at least 80 people since 1990† (Nichols 52). Nichols goes on to say how the definition of euthanasia or mercy killing is evolving in a