84 Interesting Quotes By Jack Kevorkian, The Advocate Of Assisted Suicide
Jack Kevorkian was a well-known American pathologist and euthanasia activist. Jack is best remembered for his support and advocacy of a terminally ill patient's right to die. Portrayed in media s 'Dr. Death', he is said to have helped at least 130 patients towards that end. He was a controversial figure by many hail him as a hero as he gave a lot of momentum to the demand terminally ill patients to die. Kevorkian was arrested in 1999 for his involvement in a case of voluntary euthanasia. He was convicted of murder and served eight years in jail; he was released on June 1, 2007, but with a condition that he would not offer any advice nor associate himself with any type of suicide involving euthanasia. Jack was also an oil painter and a jazz musician. Since he supported a cause which was very controversial, he wrote, spoke and shared his views and thoughts on voluntary euthanasia. He spoke his mind about the issues close to his heart. We have curated his quotes and thoughts on several subjects from various sources. Here is our collection of Jack Kevorkian quotes and sayings.
Dying is not a crime.
When your conscience says law is immoral, don't follow it.
My ultimate aim is to make euthanasia a positive experience.
She made the decision that her existence had lost its meaning. And you cannot judge that.
As a medical doctor, it is my duty to evaluate the situation with as much data as I can gather and as much expertise as I have and as much experience as I have to determine whether or not the wish of the patient is medically justified.
The patient's autonomy always, always should be respected, even if it is absolutely contrary - the decision is contrary to best medical advice and what the physician wants.
Everyone is going to die.
Yes, we need euthanasia, for certain cases where people are in comas or too immobile to even press a button.
If you don't have liberty and self-determination, you've got nothing, that's what this is what this country is built on. And this is the ultimate self-determination, when you determine how and when you're going to die when you're suffering.
If Christ can die in a barn, I think the death of a human in a van is not so bad.
My intent was to carry out my duty as a doctor, to end their suffering. Unfortunately, that entailed, in their cases, ending of the life.
I will admit, like Socrates and Aristotle and Plato and some other philosophers, that there are instances where the death penalty would seem appropriate.
My aim in helping the patient was not to cause death. My aim was to end suffering. It's got to be decriminalized.
The Jews were gassed. Armenians were killed in every conceivable way... So the Holocaust doesn't interest me, see? They've had a lot of publicity, but they didn't suffer as much.
I've seen schizophrenics who are so hopeless, you couldn't cheer them, and their lives are miserable and they end up as suicides. That's not right.
How can you regret helping a suffering patient?
If a man is terrified, it's up to me to dispel that terror.
I don't enjoy good food. I don't enjoy flashy cars. I don't care if I live in a dump. I don't enjoy good clothes. This is the best I've dressed in months.
I always said all my life if I wasn't born and they gave me the question I'd say I don't want to be born.
I knew I was getting into one of the most illegal things in the world. It was the right thing to do.
I have no regrets, none whatsoever.
In quixotically trying to conquer death doctors all too frequently do no good for their patients' ease but at the same time they do harm instead by prolonging and even magnifying patients' dis-ease.
Despite the solace of hypocritical religiosity and its seductive promise of an after-life of heavenly bliss, most of us will do anything to thwart the inevitable victory of biological death.
I don't crave publicity, you know.
The law doesn't create a right.
Freedom has a price. Most people aren't willing to pay it.
I would not want to live with a tube in my neck and not be able to move a finger. I wouldn't - that to me is not life.
What I think a doctor should do is prevent disease, by any means necessary.
Many support what I am doing.
Liberty means more to me than life itself.
