Between the Dying and the Dead: Dr. Jack Kevorkian's Life and the Battle to Legalize Euthanasia
Dr. Jack Kevorkian—the enigmatic and intrepid physician dubbed "Dr. Death"—has for years declined public interviews about his life and the events that led him to be a vehement advocate of doctor-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients. But here, finally, is his own life story, as told to Neal Nicol and Harry Wylie.\ Dr. Kevorkian gained international notoriety in the 1990s for his passionate advocacy of choice for terminal patients, who...
Search in google:
Dr. Jack Kevorkian—the enigmatic and intrepid physician dubbed "Dr. Death"—has for years declined public interviews about his life and the events that led him to be a vehement advocate of doctor-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients. But here, finally, is his own life story, as told to Neal Nicol and Harry Wylie. Dr. Kevorkian gained international notoriety in the 1990s for his passionate advocacy of choice for terminal patients, who have increasingly won the right to decide the time, place, and method of their own death in several western countries. In 1998, he assisted Thomas Youk, a terminally ill patient suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease, with a lethal injection that was broadcast on CBS's 60 Minutes. Immediately thereafter, Kevorkian was arrested, charged with second-degree murder, tried, and sentenced to 10-25 years in Michigan's maximum-security prison system. Today, Dr. Kevorkian is in his late seventies and in failing health himself. He shares an eight-by-twelve-foot cell with another inmate in the Thumb Correctional Facility at Lapeer, Michigan. The unique story Prisoner Number 284797 shares far exceeds the battle to legalize euthanasia and end human suffering for terminal patients. "Personal choice is really what it is all about. Quality of life, as opposed to maintaining existence" (Kevorkian to Vanity Fair, 1994)Co-published with Vision, U.K. Library Journal Dr. Jack Kevorkian, imprisoned in Michigan since 1999, authorized this biography by friends Nicol, a coworker since 1961, and Wylie, a former neighbor, who portray him as brilliant and multifaceted (he's a pathologist, musician, composer, poet) but easily bored and with a low tolerance for people who don't meet his standards. A passion for research in such areas as organ donation and death and dying led this son of Armenian immigrants to the advocacy of physician-assisted suicide. His ego-driven forcing of the issue-when he personally euthanized Thomas Youk, he appeared on 60 Minutes to show a tape of the act and defended himself at the resulting murder trial-put him in the prison cell where he now sits, his own health deteriorating. The authors combine clear affection for Kevorkian and advocacy for his cause with a willingness to point out character flaws and some of the poor choices he has made. The writing is pedestrian, but the book updates Michael Betzold's Appointment with Doctor Death (1993). Recommended for all public libraries.-Dick Maxwell, Porter Adventist Hosp. Lib., Denver Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
\ Library JournalDr. Jack Kevorkian, imprisoned in Michigan since 1999, authorized this biography by friends Nicol, a coworker since 1961, and Wylie, a former neighbor, who portray him as brilliant and multifaceted (he's a pathologist, musician, composer, poet) but easily bored and with a low tolerance for people who don't meet his standards. A passion for research in such areas as organ donation and death and dying led this son of Armenian immigrants to the advocacy of physician-assisted suicide. His ego-driven forcing of the issue-when he personally euthanized Thomas Youk, he appeared on 60 Minutes to show a tape of the act and defended himself at the resulting murder trial-put him in the prison cell where he now sits, his own health deteriorating. The authors combine clear affection for Kevorkian and advocacy for his cause with a willingness to point out character flaws and some of the poor choices he has made. The writing is pedestrian, but the book updates Michael Betzold's Appointment with Doctor Death (1993). Recommended for all public libraries.-Dick Maxwell, Porter Adventist Hosp. Lib., Denver Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.\ \
