Dr. Jack Kevorkian and His Mercy Killings

Mercy killing: Dr. Jack Kevorkian
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Introduction
Dr. Jack Kevorkian (1928-2011) is associated with one of the most debated topics in medical ethics, physician-assisted suicide. While serving as a physician, Jack Kevorkian assisted over 100 patients in committing suicide, all of whom were terminally ill. As a physician, Kevorkian strongly believed that it was the patient's prerogative to request a human-controlled death in the face of a debilitating diagnosis or a terminal illness. Dr. Kevorkian saw his mother have stomach cancer and was infuriated by the whole treatment process. The doctors did everything in their power to heal her mother despite knowing that she was terminally ill. Worse, they had refused to increase her morphine dosage to ease her pain, something that, according to Dr. Kevorkian, prolonged her pain and suffering. Terminal patients suffered at the hands of doctors, and only death was the relief. While mercy killing was illegal, Kevorkian tolerated it and expected all doctors to support physician-assisted suicide (mercy killing).
Physician-assisted suicide/mercy killing.
The mere mention of the name mercy killing stirs up several debates surrounding medical ethics. While some, like Kevorkian, consider it a means to alleviate the suffering of the terminally ill, some consider it a means for people to commit suicide. Kevorkian distanced himself from the medical mainstream mainly because he could not stand the suffering of the terminally ill patients in the hands of doctors. For him, there was no substantial reason to continue watching patients suffer, whereas it was clear that cure was very least likely (Graham & Ritter, 2017). In his proposed mercy killing option, the parameters were that the patient must be incurable, adamant, enduring pain and suffering, and terminal. Ideally, Kevorkian factored in t...