US assisted-suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian dies
Assisted-suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian has died at a Detroit-area hospital at the age of 83, his lawyer and friend said.
Mayer Morganroth said Mr Kevorkian died this morning at William Beaumont Hospital in Michigan.
He said nurses played classical music by Mr Kevorkian’s favourite composer, Johan Sebastian Bach, before he died.
Mr Kevorkian had been hospitalised since last month with pneumonia and kidney problems.
Mr Morganroth said Mr Kevorkian was conscious last night and the two spoke about leaving the hospital and getting ready for rehabilitation.
Mr Kevorkian was released from a Michigan prison in 2007 after serving eight years for second-degree murder. He claims to have assisted in at least 130 suicides.
In 2008, Mr Kevorkian ran for Congress as an independent, receiving just 2.7% of the vote in the suburban Detroit district. He said his experience showed the party system was “corrupt” and “has to be completely overhauled from the bottom up”.
His life story became the subject of the 2010 HBO movie 'You Don’t Know Jack', which earned actor Al Pacino Emmy and Golden Globe Awards for his portrayal of Mr Kevorkian. Pacino paid tribute to Mr Kevorkian during his Emmy acceptance speech and recognised the world-famous former doctor, who sat smiling in the audience.
Pacino said during the speech that it was a pleasure to “try to portray someone as brilliant and interesting and unique” as Mr Kevorkian and a “pleasure to know him”.
Mr Kevorkian himself said he liked the movie and enjoyed the attention it generated, but said he doubted it would inspire much action by a new generation of assisted suicide advocates.
“You’ll hear people say, ’Well, it’s in the news again, it’s time for discussing this further.’ No it isn’t. It’s been discussed to death,” he said. “There’s nothing new to say about it. It’s a legitimate ethical medical practice as it was in ancient Rome and Greece.”
Nicknamed “Dr Death” because of his fascination with death, Mr Kevorkian catapulted into public consciousness in 1990 when he used his homemade “suicide machine” in his rusted Volkswagen van to inject lethal drugs into an Alzheimer’s patient who sought his help in dying.
For nearly a decade, he escaped authorities’ efforts to stop him. His first four trials, all on assisted suicide charges, resulted in three acquittals and one mistrial.
