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Jack Kevorkian

Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

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Synonyms

Assisted suicide; Doctor; Physician

Definition

A physical best known for his work in assisting suicide.

Introduction

Occasionally, history conveniently presents us with an event or a movement personified by a single man or woman. Such an occasion is the melding of Dr. Jack Kevorkian with the physician-assisted suicide (PAS) movement in the 1990s. Pathologist, author, musician, and painter, he is best remembered for having escorted at least 130 patients to their death by assisted suicide and euthanasia.

His Armenian parents had fled persecution in the Turkish Ottoman Empire and immigrated to Pontiac, Michigan, where he was born on May 26, 1928. He attended the University of Michigan Medical School from where he graduated in 1952. Subsequent to graduation he entertained several radical ideas, including using death row inmates for medical experimentation, and transferring cadaver blood into living recipients, including himself (Nicol and Wylie 2006).

In 1990, he met a 54-year-old...

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References

  • Jackson, N. (2011). Jack Kevorkian’s Death Van and the Tech of Assisted Suicide. The Atlantic Monthly, June 3, 2011.

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  • Lessenberry, J. (1994). Death becomes him. Vanity Fair, July, 1994.

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  • Nicol, N., & Wylie, H. (2006). Between the dying and the dead: Dr. Jack Kevorkian’s life and battle to legalize Euthanasia. Madison: University of Wisconsin.

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  • Schneider, K. (2011). Dr. Jack Kevorkian dies at 83; “A Doctor Who Helped End Lives.” The New York Times, June 3, 2011.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. William Beaumont School of Medicine, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Ron Samarian

Authors
  1. Ron Samarian
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ron Samarian .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  2. Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Lisa L. M. Welling

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© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

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Samarian, R. (2017). Jack Kevorkian. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_557-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_557-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Jack Kevorkian
    Published:
    22 March 2017

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_557-2

  2. Original

    Jack Kevorkian
    Published:
    30 January 2017

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_557-1

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