Home > West's Encyclopedia of American Law > Kevorkian, Jack

Jack Kevorkian has become the most well-known advocate in the United States for the cause of physician-assisted suicide. Having helped an estimated 130 terminally or chronically ill individuals kill themselves between 1990 and 1999, Kevorkian sparked a national debate on the ethical issues involved in EUTHANASIA, or mercy killing. Although Kevorkian has argued that his actions have prevented needless suffering for patients in pain and that it has allowed them to die with dignity, others see his work as a violation of the medical profession's most cherished ethical principles affirming life over death. Working in an area of vexing ethical issues, Kevorkian was championed as a breaker of unnecessary taboos surrounding death. His crusade ended in 1999 when a Michigan state court convicted him of second-degree murder.

Kevorkian became a focus of national attention...