Little Known Facts About Jack Kevorkian

Jack Kevorkian, the infamous "Dr. Death", was released from prison June 1, 2007 after serving 8 of his 10 to 25 year prison sentence for the second degree murder of Thomas Yourk in 1998. Jack Kevorkian is the unofficial totem figure for the right-to-die movement. As a long time advocator of assisted suicide, Kevorkian claims to have helped 130 people end their lives.

The Kevorkian trial set off a hail storm of public debate over legality of physician-assisted suicide in 1998. The general population reacted as if physician-assisted suicide itself was being put on trial with many supporting (or opposing) Kevorkian, based solely on their personal views on assisted suicide. Somewhere along the way, Jack Kevorkian, the person, became lost in the political pondering.

If one word could be used to describe Jack Kevorkian it would be macabre. Kevorkian has the wonderfully sorted past, artistic talent, and mad-scientist flare of a generic nineteenth century literary villain. Early in his medical career he showed a fascination with disease and death. In 1952, Kevorkian graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School with a specialty in pathology. His first published paper, "The Fundus Oculi and the Determination of Death," was released in 1956 and details his efforts to photograph the eyes of people in their final moment. This earned him the reputation as Dr. Death and the moniker stuck. In 1958 Kevorkian presented a controversial paper condoning medical experimentation of consenting convicts. Fearing the controversy generated by one of their residents, the University of Michigan requested that Kevorkian resign.