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The Ethics of Physician-Assisted Suicide

  • Chapter
Physician-Assisted Death

Part of the book series: Biomedical Ethics Reviews ((BER))

Abstract

When Dr. Jack Kevorkian, who is called “Dr. Death,” was acquitted for the second time of murder charges on July 21,1992, he said: “... it is time for other doctors to join him and make physician-assisted suicide safe, effective and widely available.”1 Opponents of physician-assisted suicide think, instead, that it is time to stop him before the State of Michigan, where he resides and practices his “craft,” becomes the suicide capital of the world. Essentially the court judged that physician-assisted suicide is not a crime in Michigan, even when the patients so helped are not terminally ill. Kevorkian had been charged with murder when he assisted Sherry Miller who had multiple sclerosis and Marjorie Wantz who was victimized by severe chronic pelvic pain. On October 23, 1991, Miller used his machine to take a lethal overdose of drugs, whereas Wantz inhaled carbon monoxide. Earlier charges for assisting Janet Adkins, who suffered from early stages of Alzheimer’s Disease, were dropped in December, 1990.

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Authors
  1. David C. Thomasma
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    James M. Humber  & Robert F. Almeder  & 

  2. Department of Philosophy, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    Gregg A. Kasting

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Thomasma, D.C. (1994). The Ethics of Physician-Assisted Suicide. In: Humber, J.M., Almeder, R.F., Kasting, G.A. (eds) Physician-Assisted Death. Biomedical Ethics Reviews. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-448-1_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-448-1_6

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-61737-002-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-59259-448-1

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