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Jack Kevorkian, why did he live so long?
San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 6/3/11 | Debra J. Saunders

Posted on 06/03/2011 10:50:23 AM PDT by SmithL

Jack Kevorkian and his supporters portrayed the death doc as a compassionate man who offered "death with dignity" to individuals suffering from a poor quality of life. I always saw him as a man who preyed on vulnerable individuals by telling them their lives weren't worth living -- as I watched Kevorkian survive over the years, despite medical problems that dwarfed those of many of his victims.

In 2007, I wrote:

Fans of Kevorkian ought to be asking themselves: In that the ailing Kevorkian is in worse physical shape than many of the people whose lives he helped snuff out, why hasn't the death doc used his vaunted "medicide" on himself? . . .

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Editorial
KEYWORDS: cultureofdeath; drdeath; euthanasia; ghouls; kevorkian; moralabsolutes; prodeath; righttomurder
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To: dfwgator
I think the problem that most of us here have, is that very quickly the "right to die" becomes "duty to die."

So many things in life are like that, being easily misused.

Gun ownership can be misused.
Drinking alcohol can be misused.
Speech can be misused.

But the American Way (other than Nanny-Staters) is not to jump onto that slippery slope screaming, "You don't have the right to run your own life!"

The American Way is to protect against the possibility of misuse, while also protecting freedom.

I think some Nanny-Staters are truly disappointed that Oregon hasn't developed into the mass-suicide haven they predicted.

21 posted on 06/03/2011 11:17:47 AM PDT by Gondring (Paul Revere would have been flamed as a naysayer troll and told to go back to Boston.)
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To: smith288

If I get that way, I’ve told Mrs BwanaNdege to get me a couch down by the lake, like Burgess Meredith had in “Grumpier Old Men”’

Leave me there with my fishing tackle, and maybe some bait.

Come back in the Spring, sweep up what’s left of me, put it in a pine box, say a few kind words over the remains, smile at the good memories, please forget the bad.

Oh, maybe bury me with a box of red wigglers to give them a head start. I fugure that I owe them something for all the fishing I’ve done.

I won’t be in that box!


22 posted on 06/03/2011 11:18:05 AM PDT by BwanaNdege ("Experience is the best teacher, but if you can accept it 2nd hand, the tuition is less." M Rosen)
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To: BwanaNdege
Come back in the Spring, sweep up what’s left of me, put it in a pine box, say a few kind words over the remains, smile at the good memories, please forget the bad.

As romantic as that scene was, i believe most times than not, it's a painful and horrible thing to be left alone if you plan on whithering away such as that. To each their own.

I wouldn't mind your scenario but throw in a heart stopper in my glass of sweet tea. :)

23 posted on 06/03/2011 11:22:56 AM PDT by smith288 (Peace at all costs gives you tyranny free of charge)
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To: SmithL

Kevorkian was a pathologist when he was still a practicing physician. Many of us suspected that he tired of dealing with the already dead, and felt cheated by not being able to observe the process of dying and the actual passage, thus leading to his ghoulish practice of creating deaths so he could be present at the precise moment.

He was truly twisted.


24 posted on 06/03/2011 11:29:41 AM PDT by DPMD (~)
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To: Hodar
We extend more compassion to our animals, than we do our fellow human beings.

Speak for yourself. I would never murder a fellow human being. When given the opportunity, I always choose to care for them.

25 posted on 06/03/2011 11:37:27 AM PDT by BykrBayb (Somewhere, my flower is there. ~ Þ)
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To: dfwgator
The irony would be if he was on life support before he died.

Speaking of irony, the top-of-hour radio news had these two stories back-to-back. First, they announced the death of Kevorkian. Then it was announced that some French doctors had developed a new artifical, implantable heart. They stated that if the new heart could be used to extend lives six months, it would be a success.

I was saddened to hear of the death of James Arness. I don't know how many hours I've spent in front of a TV watching Gunsmoke.

As far as the other death of the day, the world is a better place without Kevorkian.

26 posted on 06/03/2011 11:38:10 AM PDT by CommerceComet (Governor Romney, why would any conservative vote for the author of the beta version of ObamaCare?)
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To: SmithL

He lived so long because of his common sense, his skills as a physician, hisfeelings for his fellow man, his understanding that the patient comes first, his empathy for the dying, his disgust with the greedy medical profession, his belief that it is a physician’s duty to ease pain and end - if possible - suffering, and the bedrock conviction that eventually we all die. Some - if he was requested to assist - much less painfully and far better off economically - than others.


27 posted on 06/03/2011 11:40:36 AM PDT by Logic n' Reason (The stain must be ERADICATED....NOW!!)
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To: smith288

I dealt with this with my Mom, she decided she wanted to forego chemo and go into hospice care, perhaps chemo would have given her another year, but she decided she didn’t want to drag it out. So we just made her final days are comfortable as possible, and let things run their course. That’s a big difference than actively hastening ones’ demise as Kervorkian did.


28 posted on 06/03/2011 11:41:54 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: SmithL

Because, only the good die young.


29 posted on 06/03/2011 11:42:32 AM PDT by Phlap (REDNECK@LIBARTS.EDU)
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To: dfwgator

Duty to die is what Obamacare will become. Individuals and families should most likely be able to make up thier own minds, As long as government is not involved.


30 posted on 06/03/2011 11:44:39 AM PDT by Ratman83
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To: smith288
As romantic as that scene was, i believe most times than not, it's a painful and horrible thing to be left alone if you plan on whithering away such as that. To each their own. I wouldn't mind your scenario but throw in a heart stopper in my glass of sweet tea. :)

I just want to go like my Grandfather did, peacefully in my sleep, unlike the screaming passengers in his car.

31 posted on 06/03/2011 11:46:00 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Hodar; Dr. Brian Kopp; trisham; DJ MacWoW; little jeremiah; Coleus; narses; Lesforlife; ...
This mercy I extended my beloved pet; would never be bestowed to me, or a family member by the hypocrits I see on this board. No, I would have arrogant, selfish people dictate that no matter how much pain I was in, despite the fact that I was slowly dying - they would demand that every medical proceedure (regardless of expense and how my beloved wife would be bankrupted after my demise) be used to prolong my life. Instead of letting me call my loved one close; say my goodbyes and depart surrounded by my family and friends - I would be forced to wither and die, slowly, painfully and likely alone.

Pathetic, isn’t it? We extend more compassion to our animals, than we do our fellow human beings.

There are some distinct differences:

1. Animals DO NOT have souls. The Bible permits the killing of animals, it does not permit the killing of humans for the conditions you mentioned.

2. Animals cannot communicate levels and locations of pain as humans can, this makes palliative care more difficult.

Since the beginning of time people have euthanized animals that are dying and in pain, the notion that it was okay to euthanize humans is only a few decades old and pushed by the leftist culture of death.

It's important to note that even the Nazis didn't euthanize anyone that they considered to be a human being.

32 posted on 06/03/2011 11:47:19 AM PDT by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: Logic n' Reason

Is that sarcasm?


33 posted on 06/03/2011 11:48:53 AM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: trisham
I live in a family that is primarily medical. A brother who is a heart doc, my mom and my sister are both RNs, another brother is a Senior EMT, another is a specialized radiologist.

I, myself, have been hospitalized on numerous occasions, but am "still kickin'". My wonderful Dad was not so fortunate having been killed by colon cancer after a long and extraordinarily expensive illness.

No...it was not sarcasm, but an opinion based on what has been, to date, a very long life.

If it does not "mesh" with your opinion, so be it.

34 posted on 06/03/2011 11:55:24 AM PDT by Logic n' Reason (The stain must be ERADICATED....NOW!!)
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To: wagglebee
It's important to note that even the Nazis didn't euthanize anyone that they considered to be a human being.

It's also important to note that they tried to cover up the fact that they were euthanizing people. Why would they try to cover it up if they didn't know it was wrong? Only a handful of them were stupid enough to brag about it. Here are some of them.


35 posted on 06/03/2011 11:56:31 AM PDT by BykrBayb (Somewhere, my flower is there. ~ Þ)
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To: smith288
Two problems I have specifically to Kevorikian are 1) Kevorkian enjoyed his "work" way too damned much, and 2) not all of his "patients" were terminal.

Another problem I have is the "right to die" could end up being twisted by the government into the "duty to die" real quickly.

For terminally ill patients who are suffering I can understand the desire to have the ability to end that suffering. But, that is a decision which should never be in the hands of a physician or the government.

36 posted on 06/03/2011 11:59:21 AM PDT by SoldierDad (Proud dad of an Army Soldier currently deployed in the Valley of Death, Afghanistan)
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To: Hodar

A terminally ill person can sign a living will and health care proxy thereby dictating what treatment, if any, that individual wishes to receive (including pain medication.)

To compare euthanizing an animal to the murder of a human is ridiculous.

I don’t want to suffer in my last days, but a problem that I see with people is that they want everything easy. No one is willing to endure the cross that each of us must bear. Life can be cruel, but it is in receiving the beauty of life that we graciously accept our fate. The real reward is in our next life.


37 posted on 06/03/2011 12:00:50 PM PDT by NoKoolAidforMe (I'm clinging to my God and my guns. You can keep the change.)
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To: Logic n' Reason

That’s frightening, assuming that your relatives share your perspective.


38 posted on 06/03/2011 12:04:55 PM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: Logic n' Reason

In recent years, some of the medical schools have been pushing the idea that the purpose of medicine is to relieve suffering as quickly and efficiently as possible, even if that means killing the patient rather than providing them with medical care. This attitude has severely harmed our medical system.


39 posted on 06/03/2011 12:08:42 PM PDT by BykrBayb (Somewhere, my flower is there. ~ Þ)
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To: Logic n' Reason; Dr. Brian Kopp; trisham; DJ MacWoW; little jeremiah; Coleus; narses; Lesforlife; ..
He lived so long because of his common sense, his skills as a physician, hisfeelings for his fellow man, his understanding that the patient comes first, his empathy for the dying, his disgust with the greedy medical profession, his belief that it is a physician’s duty to ease pain and end - if possible - suffering, and the bedrock conviction that eventually we all die. Some - if he was requested to assist - much less painfully and far better off economically - than others.

He was a MURDERER who killed people who weren't even dying and along the way violated every tenet of the Hippocratic Oath.

Plenty of monsters have lived long lives, look at Castro.

40 posted on 06/03/2011 12:18:04 PM PDT by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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