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| Kevorkian |
Kevorkian;
A Persecuted American Hero
Death in the United States has been turned into a horror story beyond anything ever conceived in the opium dreams of
early American writer Edgar Allen Poe. Those who do not escape by a sudden private event such as a heart attack,
stroke, or accident, must go through the agony of a slow, painful passing within the sterile walls of a modern hospital setting.
I
know from personal experience how terrible the hospital event can be. Some years back I collapsed from a bleeding ulcer, was
whisked by ambulance to the local clinic, and put through a few hours of literal hell. While lying in an emergency room ward,
retching and passing blood at both ends of my body, I was forced to endure plastic tubes rammed through every orifice that
wasn't already busy, including three the doctor cut me open to find.
That doctor, and a special nurse, stayed at my
side throughout the day and the following night, and saved my life. Had they not taken the steps they did, I would surely
have bled to an early death. Enduring the agony I went through was a necessary road to recovery.
My point is that for
many dying patients, there is no road to recovery. They go out slowly, enduring all of the suffering I experienced for those
few terrifying hours, for days and sometimes months before death either overpowers the machines, or someone in their graceful
mercy turns them off.
Think of lying helpless on your back, with a plastic tube stuck in your urinary track, another
one stuck in your arm, a third through your nose and down your esophagus, wires glued to your chest and ankles, and an oxygen
machine forcing air in and out of your lungs. The setting is a busy hospital, with nurses, doctors, service personnel, and
cleaning people coming and leaving your room constantly, all day and all night. The only sleep you get is when you become
comatose. The walls are always painted either flat white or yellow. A television hanging from a nearby wall, constantly feeds
you the false, surreal images of the outside world. This is the way you go out. It doesn't get any better than this.
And
why do the doctors, nurses and other hospital (and long-term care facilities) work so hard to prolong your agony during the
dying process? The primary reason is money. There are big insurance and estate payments to gain for every day you stay alive
and remain in that state of pain and suffering. Family members, who could (and sometimes do) try to intervene, find themselves
fighting in courts of law to have the process stopped. That is because laws are written that force medical personnel to do
all in their power to keep the patient alive as long as possible. To do anything less is considered the equivalent of murder.
I
know there are many brave doctors who frequently break the rules and let the patient die with dignity. An injection of just
the right amount of morphine, or perhaps some other drug, quietly sends them off to the great beyond. They do this quietly,
and never speak of it.
Enter Dr. Jack Kevorkian, a Michigan physician who wanted to do something about this silent
drama once and for all. A pathologist by trade, Kevorkian rarely had direct personal contact with patients, but he understood
the evil greed, stirred by a twisted church-based theology, that existed behind the law. He began openly helping people with
painful and terminal illnesses commit suicide.
Kevorkian dared the legal profession to challenge what he was doing.
It was his hope that (a.) he could start a movement to get doctor-assisted suicides legalized, or (b.) he could break the
law through legal moves in the courts.
It was a long, well fought battle, but in the end, the church and the Michigan
legislators got Kevorkian. The 72-year-old doctor is now serving a life term (10 to 25 years) in
prison because he taped himself giving a lethal injection to a dying man suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease, and then dared to allow the 60-Minutes crew to show it on national television.
Instead
of rising up in support of Kevorkian, as the
doctor had hoped, the American sheeple sat back in their stupor, and allowed the Michigan courts to convict the man of second
degree murder.
Not only this, but Michigan has a law on the books that forces convicted felons to personally pay the
state for the cost of keeping them locked behind bars. When sued by the state treasurer for his estate, Kevorkian settled
with an agreement to pay $28,039.98 from his personal bank account, plus $364.50 a month from his pension for jail rent. Talk
about kicking a dog while he is down.
The legal and medical establishments in Michigan have succeeded in destroying
the only ray of hope the people have had for death with dignity. And other than the lawyers and personal friends who supported
him, nobody else raised a finger to help Kevorkian. Churches denounced him as an evil killer. Both preachers and legislators
ravaged the man in words from the bully pulpit. After a legal fight that went on for several years, the masses believe, even
now, that justice has been served.
Well let me say that justice has not been served. Yet. But it is coming. As age
and illness creeps up on people, most will fall to the terror of the hospital torture bed. By then, the technology for keeping
bodies alive will have been advanced so that people can lie in pain for months and even years.
That is when justice
will be served. As they lie in agony, they will remember Jack Kevorkian, but it will be too late.
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