The name of Jack Kevorkian is little-remembered these days. But in 1998, Kevorkian, nicknamed ‘Dr Death’ by the media, went on trial for the second-degree murder of a man called Thomas Youk. Mr Youk was suffering from motor neurone disease, and Dr Kevorkian’s crime was that he participated in the voluntary euthanasia of his patient. Kevorkian also claimed that he had assisted 130 patients to end their lives because they were suffering from terminal illnesses.
Kevorkian and his case were a cause célèbre (he was convicted and sent to prison), but the arguments about voluntary euthanasia and assisted dying (which are not the same thing) have not gone away. Indeed, the fact that different countries have different laws on such matters, and the foundation of the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland, have ensured that such arguments have remained loud and heartfelt.
Assistance to end life
At the moment, the Terminally Ill Adults
