Dispatch of Suicide Hobbyist “Dr. Death” Kevorkian Offers Questions on Meaning of Life

With the death last week of Jack "Dr. Death" Kevorkian, famed medical practitioner and suicide hobbyist, we have an opportunity to contrast our culture's values against its classic sources. More pointedly, in examining the doctor's life and values, we ought to ask a tough question. That is, whether, when Kevorkian was being allowed to help those wanting suicide , if that better reveals our convictions than our supposed religion? Sadly, the answer may be, "yes." But there are strong reasons why his ideas will always lead to tragic outcomes. For example, such a blasé' attitude towards life explains why our society throws babies away like garbage in the name of "family planning." So maybe this is who we really are, deep down--a Kevorkian Nation, unified together in the name of convenience? This is the topic of today's essay.

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I. Dr. Jack Kevorkian's Bio

Doctor Jack Kevorkian claimed the worst day of his life was that of his birth. A bright lad raised in a religious home, the ghoulish Kevorkian developed an interest in death in medical school. A man who loved the spotlight, his quest to make suicide legal and easy eventually got him sentenced to prison for a decade after he filmed himself helping kill a man with his homemade suicide machine. One source describes his life:

Pathologist Dr Jack Kevorkian pulled high-profile antics to support voluntary euthanasia. Known as "Dr. Death" for fixation on dying patients, he eventually earned a living publishing articles on euthanasia in European medical journals. He invented a 1990s "death machine," so a user could self-inject an anesthetic and lethal dose of potassium chloride. His initial "assisted suicides" led to a 1993 Michigan ban, a law he openly defied to force the issue into the courts. In the 1990s Kevorkian was on talk shows, in the news, in court and then jail for assisting many deaths. In 1998, he videotaped and helped kill Thomas Youk; which was then broadcast on CBS' 60 Minutes. Kevorkian went on trial, charged with murder and delivering a controlled substance after he lost his medical license. Convicted in April 1999, and sentenced to 10-25 years prison. Kevorkian, in failing health, was released in 2007, moving outside Detroit until his death in 2011.

II. The West's Traditional View of Suicide

It is one of the great anchors of the Western belief system that all life is sacred, and God the giver of life. This was not true in the ancient world, as a whole. Consider the statement from Exodus 20:13 "You shall not murder." So both the Jews and Christian's viewed life as being God's, and only He should take it away. Therefore, both religions had laws against such an act. Suicide was typically seen as the work of apostates and unbelievers. For example, after Judas sold Christ out for thirty pieces of silver, he killed himself:

When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. "I have sinned," he said, "for I have betrayed innocent blood." "What is that to us?" they replied. "That's your responsibility." So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself. (Matt 27:3-5)

This is a good backdrop for analyzing the issue of self harm from the Christian worldview. This outlook on life developed as the Roman Empire fell away and the medieval Church took over the central role in society of the West. So suicide was harshly condemned. Saint Augustine of Hippo, in his City of God, took a very dim view of suicide, agreeing with the early Church that such an act was a type of murder. The laws also reflected this. Consider one example from a book titled, A History Of Suicide, where it describes a 13th century French municipal code which stipulated that corpses of suicidal men be dragged, whereas women were burned. As a general rule, persons who committed suicide were often buried upside down or at a crossroads, instead of the Church, in sanctified ground. Generally, suicides were considered to have put themselves outside the Holy Roman Church, if the person was not insane at the time. One Catholic professor described the old rule:

In earlier times a person who committed suicide would often be denied funeral rites and even burial in a Church cemetery. However, some consideration has always been taken into account of the person's mental state at the time.

Today's Catholic Catechism still lists the rule against suicide, although sanctions are no longer emphasized (2280-82):

Suicide

Everyone is responsible for his life before God who has given it to him. It is God who remains the sovereign Master of life. We are obliged to accept life gratefully and preserve it for his honor and the salvation of our souls. We are stewards, not owners, of the life God has entrusted to us. It is not ours to dispose of. Suicide contradicts natural inclination of the human beings to preserve & perpetuate life. It is gravely contrary to the just love of self. It likewise offends love of neighbor because it unjustly breaks ties of solidarity with family, nation, & other human societies to which we continue to have obligations. Suicide is contrary to love for the living God. If suicide is committed with the intention of setting an example, especially to the young, it also takes on the gravity of scandal. Voluntary co-operation in suicide is contrary to the moral law.

III. Ancient Pagan View of Life & Death

In the ancient classical world, life and death often had contradictory rules. Suicide was sometimes considered a noble solution to unpleasant circumstances. This was in keeping with other beliefs they had on life. For example, it was perfectly legal for Greek or Roman parents to leave a handicapped child outside to die of exposure. Sometimes the children were not handicapped but simply unwanted. One author explains the attitude:

Contrary to views in the Judaeo-Christian world, Graeco-Roman attitudes toward suicide held that it could be acceptable under certain circumstances. While some condemned it, such as the Pythagoreans, suicide most often occurred when one's honor was irretrievably lost, and the individual confronted great public shame. It could also be associated with political protest, if one refused submission to tyrannical authorities. On the other hand, as an answer to petty misfortunes, suicide was frowned upon as a cowardly and disgraceful act.

Overall, the ancients were more relaxed with the idea of suicide. For example, the Romans lookd with favor upon the idea of a patriotic suicide, where one might fight an enemy till the last, but decide to kill themselves when all hope was lost instead of giving the enemy the honor. Consider:

Self-sacrifice for the sake of patriotism is a major theme in the writings of the ancient Greek historians. Herodotos relates Leonidas, King of Sparta, and three hundred hoplites knew that they could not defeat the hundreds of thousands of Persians when they invaded Greece some 2500 years ago. Love for freedom and obedience to the law of the country made them withstand the onslaught of the Persians. In a discussion between Xerxes, King of King (of Persia), & Demaratos, Spartan King in exile, Demaratos said: "Brave are all the Greeks ... they will never accept your terms [Xerxes's] which reduce Greece to slavery ... though they be free men, they are not all respects free; law is the master whom they own ... Whatever it commands they do; ... it forbids them to flee in battle, whatever the number of their foes, and requires them to stand first and either win or die" (Herodotos, trans. 1988, Bk. 7, paragraphs 101-102).

IV. Serious Problems Associated With Kevorkian's Death Philosophy

A. If "assisted suicide" is acceptable, what is the difference between that and murder?

Traditionally, the Church saw suicide as just another kind of murder. While this may seem harsh to us, don't forget that it is not unusual today for suicides to also have a murder of some loved one involved.

B. No One Knows Who is Actually "Terminal."

One of the great ironies of such self-righteous euthanasia enthusiasts as Dr Kevorkian is that medicine is, at the very best, simply guess work. Millions of people have been given terminal diagnoses in history that turned out to be wholly wrong. Further sometimes when persons are diagnosed, a cure may not exist, that later turns up before they die. More to the point, Kervorkian killed many persons who were not terminally ill. Some were simply depressed. So why couldn't the "doctor" help relieve their symptoms instead of killing them for relief?

C. If God Isn't Author of Life & Death, There is No God.

As technology advances, more and more things that used to be explained by God's providence are now simply dismissed in scientific terminology. But if God is no longer to be considered the rightful giver and taker of life, then we ought to simply retire the concept. Contra, the old view still makes sense--that God is not done with someone until He removes them.

D. If There Were No God, Why Would Assisting Suicide be Moral?

There was a debate over suicide in the ancient world. Some thinkers believed suicide was a type of pollution sure to infect the living. So just because Kervorkian, and other atheists dispute God's existence, it doesn't mean anything goes.

E. If One Person Can Assist Suicide, Why Can't Government?

Frankly speaking, it's amazing euthanasia enthusiasts are not more aware that what they are doing in helping kill the living opens the door for the government to come in and do the same thing later, for the same reasons. Or maybe that's what they want?

F. Doesn't Assisted Suicide Offer Support to Eugenics?

Why wouldn't such a government killing its citizens not also throw in eugenics as one reason for its actions? This would seem a logical extension of its actions and authority since it is already taking moral and legal authority of the health care system.

G. Realistically, How Does One Avoid Murders Done in the Name of "Assisted Suicide"?

It might be very tempting to get rid one one's wife, sibling or parent after 30 years of sickness--no?!!

V. To Be Pondered--Will We One Day See The Death of Death?

One of the great themes of the Christian church is the belief that after evil and sin are defeated, death itself must die at the hands of Christ, as expressed in John Owen's great work--The Death of Death in the Death of Christ. This is a much greater idea than Kervorkian could ever imagine. Consider, in closing--churchman John Donne's masterpiece Death Be No Proud: (listen) Death, be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so; For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow, Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me. From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow, And soonest our best men with thee do go, Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery. Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men, And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell; And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then? One short sleep past, we wake eternally, And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.