This shabby van, reminiscent of our "UAZ", performs two functions - gas chambers and corpse vehicles. The van is owned by Dr. Jack Kevorkian, and he receives another patient in it, who wished to speed up his death. When the action ends, the doctor takes the body to the hospital and hands it over there "on receipt", handing the doctors documents on the corpse - name, surname, place of residence, as well as a videotape with the last word of the suicide, the scene of his passing away - and leaves.
Nobody is trying to stop him, he is not running away from anyone. Further - it is the business of forensic doctors and detectives to find out the circumstances of death. Jack Kevorkian was charged three times with murder and acquitted three times.
No Nobel laureate in medicine can compare with Dr. Kevorkian. Having started his extraordinary activity six years ago, he "served" 40 clients. It's official. But the other day his lawyer admitted: “There were many more. How many? More than one and less than a hundred”. Jack Kevorkian is called "Doctor Death". He does not need to look for clients, they go to him themselves, sometimes overcoming thousands of miles.
His first "patient" was 54-year-old Janet Adkins. She suffered from Alzheimer's disease for several years. She learned about Jack Kevorkian after reading in one of the books where he wrote about his right and duty to help people in Janet Adkins' situation. During their meeting, Kevorkian did not ask Janet for a medical history, did not examine her and did not do any tests.
After an hour of communication, he appointed the time and place for their second - and last - meeting. And when a day later she was sitting in his van, he explained that three cylinders attached to the wall contain substances that first turn off consciousness, and then stop the heart. The clockwork regulated the flow of chemicals. For the whole system to come into effect, Janet Adkins had to press the valve herself. She pressed. The system worked. It was Doctor Death's debut.
Then on TV I saw him demonstrate his cylinders: "The valve opens … Not the slightest discomfort … You fall asleep … A very easy death …" The inventor did not hide his pride, his dark eyes glittered.
In the United States, people talk about Jack Kevorkian in different ways, but no one doubts that he is a true ascetic, that he is "fascinated" by death. Jack himself does not hide it. "You must know what death is in order to understand what life is."
Jack Kevorkian was born in Pontiac, Michigan to a poor Armenian immigrant family and was not Jack at first, but Murad. He entered medical college and, upon graduation, immediately became a pathologist. He never treated anyone in his life, and dealt only with corpses. During his student years, Doctor Death was known for studying the pupils of patients who had just died in order, as he himself then said, "to find a method for determining the moment of death." What is the challenge! To find, to feel that invisible line between life and death. Stop for a moment! The mentors of the young but already obsessed Jack did not appreciate this impulse.
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Then he took part in the Korean War. Participated as a medic. Corpses again. For another, perhaps, this would be enough for the rest of his life to become indifferent to the dead body. But not to Jack Kevorkian. Returning from the war, in one of the Detroit hospitals, he began to experiment with the same matter: he transfused blood taken from corpses to his volunteers. One of them contracted hepatitis. Jack was fired. He left for California, and in 1984 he returned to Detroit. No one took him to medical positions. Since then, he has been content with odd jobs and social benefits.
But money, as you can see, does not really matter to him. He does not take money for helping suicides. Doctor Death does not have his own home - he is a lodger in the house of his lawyer Jeffrey Figer. He has written several books, in one of which he proves the expediency of conducting surgical operations on living criminals for scientific purposes, but condemned to death, in the other - the beneficialness of helping suicides. Among his readers were future patients.
I will add that relatively recently at the University of Michigan, the orchestra performed his work, and he himself plays the flute. Paints large canvases in oils. Their theme is the same - death. I have seen pictures of these paintings. One depicts a headless corpse with a knife and fork in its hands - which is preparing to bite with its own head, on the other Santa Claus strangles Jesus Christ, on the third - a hungry child gnaws at the corpse …
Since Jack Kevorkian became famous, newspapermen have been recording his statements, looking for an answer to the question of what this phenomenon will bring to the USA … on this occasion: "Human stubbornness, human insensibility, human irrationality, human madness, human barbarism always bring tears and destruction with them." Citing this tirade, The New York Times remarked, "Dr. Kevorkian has a deadly contempt for the imperfections of humanity."
Does a sick, suffering person have the right to leave this life, while resorting to someone's help? Is this help legal? Today in the USA these questions are most often answered from the positions of diametrically opposite ones. And it was Jack Kevorkian who sharpened the attitude to this issue. More recently, Kurt Simon, a millionaire and founder of the Soverin Foundation, which encourages “individual freedoms,” awarded Kevorkian a $ 20,000 prize. “Kevorkian,” he said, “has proved his courage. He knew that he would be spat upon, that he would be nailed to a pillory, accused of murder. But he didn't care. He's a hero."
But for what reason is Jack Kevoryakn, who seems to be doing a good deed, saving people from torment, is someone spitting on and nailed? Because even in the eyes of his like-minded people, who recognize the "right to death" for a seriously ill patient, Doctor Death appears as a dangerous, unpredictable fanatic, for whom the main task is to send his patient to another world as quickly as possible. With the first of them - Janet Adkins, let me remind you, he spent only an hour.
But nothing would have changed if Jack had communicated with her for a day or two - due to lack of qualifications, he simply is not able to judge the physical and mental state of the person who turned to him for help. The verdict, however, is. Who? A hopelessly sick person or someone who is going through a psychological crisis? Kevorkian does not know this.
One day earlier in the year, Rebecca Bedger from southern California reached out to Kevorkian over the Internet. Rebecca suffered from multiple sclerosis and, after taking strong drugs, fell into a deep depression. Rebecca could find no other way to end this torment other than death. After listening to her, Kevorkian agreed to assist. But first he recommended that she get acquainted with his book "The Bliss of a Planned Death." Rebecca, and with her and her 22-year-old daughter Christie, read the book. After that, the daughter agreed with the mother's decision, gave her, as she now says, "permission to die."
In July, Rebecca and Jack met. At that time, the "death machine" known to all Americans - three cylinders and a clockwork - was banned, and Rebecca had to use syringes injected into her veins. Although under these conditions death usually occurs after 20-40 seconds, Rebecca was in agony for several minutes. Calming her daughter, Kevorkian's assistant Nil Nichol, a drug dealer who does not have a license to serve patients, joked: “Don't worry. We haven't saved anyone yet. " Rebecca Bedger is listed as number 33 on the Jack Kevorkian patient registry.
Her death turned into a scandal. Lubica Dragovic, chief medical officer of the Oakland County, Michigan, where the action took place, said that when Rebecca's body was autopsied, no sign of multiple sclerosis was found. “Despite the symptoms of malaise,” the inspector said, “she was not sick. Her lungs, liver and kidneys were in excellent condition. The central nervous system, brain and spine also show no signs of disease.
We consulted with Dr. Joanna Meyer-Mitchell, who back in 1988 diagnosed Rebecca with multiple sclerosis. She admitted that this is one of those diseases, in the diagnosis of which, unfortunately, mistakes are not uncommon. “Looking back and considering the autopsy results,” she said, “you come to the conclusion that this woman passed away as a result of a mental disorder.”
A month after Rebecca, Judith Curran approached Doctor Death. Severe obesity and depression. In Kevorkian's register, she is listed as number 35. The same chief medical inspector Lyubitsa Dragovich, after conducting a postmortem examination, said: “No serious signs of any disease have been found. There was no medical reason for assisting suicide."
Patients, meanwhile, did not cease to seek the attention of "Doctor Death". A few days after Judith Curran's death, the police broke into a hotel room, where Jack had already prepared to help Isabel Correa, disrupted their meeting. But Isabel lived only one day longer - Kevorkian served her in his van, putting her on the register at number 40. And the police officers and two prosecutors who wanted to prevent suicide, Jack's lawyer sued for $ 25 million "for violation of civil rights" Kevorkian and Isabel Correa.
Ljubica Dragovic called Jack Kevorkian's assistance in these three suicides murders. He believes the same definition, most of the shares of this doctor deserve. The bodies of 29 suicides who received the help of Jack Kevorkian passed through Dragovich's hands. About 24 of them, the chief medical inspector noted, we can say with confidence: they were not hopelessly ill and were not at all on the verge of death until their paths crossed with Jack Kevorkian. But then why isn't he in jail?
Because neither society nor the judiciary has yet recognized standards for assessing a situation when a doctor helps a patient die. The American Medical Association, which unites the majority of US physicians, is categorically opposed to any kind of medical assistance in the approach of death. In all her comments on the twists and turns around Jack Kevorkian, one thing sounds: a doctor should heal, not kill.
It is not so much doctors who disagree with this position, but the guards of the law and some public organizations. Their main argument: people have the right to dispose of both their lives and their death, they have the right to make a choice - to die on their own or seek help from a doctor in the hope that he will be able to alleviate their suffering. Most often, in such cases, they recall the 14th Amendment to the American Constitution, which guarantees the privacy of citizens.
That is why Jack Kevorkian, being in permanent conflict with justice, remains the winner every time. Immediately after Janet Adkins died in his "gas chamber" - the first patient or the first victim? - Kevorkian was charged with murder. And 10 days later, District Judge Gerald McNally dropped the charge, finding "no evidence that Kevorkian planned or caused Adkins' death."
Doubts that "Doctor Death" deals only with the terminally ill arose already when he helped his third patient, Marjorie Wonz, who suffered from pelvic pain, to die. An autopsy revealed that Marjorie was physically healthy, but, being depressed, was taking a strong sleeping pill that "could cause suicidal tendencies."
The Michigan Medical Council suspended Kevorkian's doctoral license, and a Rkland County grand jury indicted him for murder. Jack appealed and, remaining at large, did not stop his practice. Looking ahead, we note that two years later he won this process and was acquitted. But before that happened, state legislators passed legislation against assisting suicides. Governor John Engler also supported this law by his own decree.
"Doctor Death" ignored these laws and went to jail. There he went on a hunger strike in protest, and two weeks later he was released. In deciding to release him and drop all charges, District Judge Richard Kaufman declared the suicide relief law unconstitutional: “The Constitution,” the judge said, “protects the right to commit suicide, let alone commit it alone or with someone else's complicity., not so important".
And finally, the main event, which was applauded by Jack Kevorkian and his associates. In San Francisco, a federal court of appeals for the ninth district overturned Washington's law that made it a crime for a medical professional to commit suicide and upheld a person's right to "decide when and how to die." The decision extends to nine western states, but could affect court sentences across the country.
Appellate judge Stephen Reinhardt interpreted the decision as follows: “The 14th Amendment to our Constitution guarantees personal freedom, which can be used by a responsible adult terminally ill person who has almost lived his life. He is more interested in choosing a dignified and humane death than at the end of his path to fall into childhood, to become helpless."
The decision of the San Francisco Court of Appeals was adopted by a majority vote: 8 judges voted in favor of repealing the suicide law, three against. One of these three - Robert Bezer - believes that the court's decision will give impetus to the most dangerous trend: if today the constitutional right to resort to the help of a doctor in case of suicide will be given to people who are responsible for their actions, then tomorrow the same right will be given to weak people, those who find it difficult themselves take a reasonable step that suits their interests.
Where it leads? There will be more Kevorkyans. Responding to the requests of the sick and doing so legally, they will - some noisily, some on the sly - carry out a "cleanup" of the population. Yes, their clients are completely sincere in their desire to die, yes, these people are tormented by physical suffering. However, they may not know and, as the events associated with the same "Doctor Death" showed, in reality they do not know about the real state of their health, like Kevorkian. However, he never sent one of his patients to a specialist who would better understand the causes of the suffering of potential suicides.
Whether Jack Kevorkian wanted it or not, he turned into a “Kevorkian factor” - everyone who has lost faith in the help of his doctor, who has fallen into black depression, now knows that there is a reliable doctor in Detroit, and he has a van and valves and syringes in the van.
And if it is still possible to get out of depression? And if the disease is curable? And if there is none at all? Kevorkian does not ask such questions. They are then discussed by forensic doctors, when there is no way back in life.
In discussions around Jack Kevorkian, the idea is increasingly heard that the "human right to death" is being interpreted dangerously broad. 1990 - The US Supreme Court made a decision, according to which a hopelessly ill person has the right to demand that the devices that support his life be turned off or not take drugs. “But there is a difference between letting a person die and killing them with lethal gas,” wrote Wale Kamisar, a law professor at the University of Michigan. If suicide assistance is legalized, she is sure, such acts will be quietly discussed as an alternative to treatment.
The Life and Law Research Center in New York warns that legalizing activities such as Doctor Death's “is extremely dangerous for those who are sick and vulnerable, and the risk is particularly high for the elderly, the poor, or lacking access to good medical care. If all of them could receive qualified help, if they were relieved of pain, then suicide as a solution to all problems would lose its relevance for them.
But now the majority of American doctors, experts say, do not know how to control pain, relieve it, and only 10% of hopelessly ill patients receive the necessary care. Therefore, the “right to die” will be used to justify getting rid of those who do not want to die, but whom relatives or doctors lead to the idea: the best outcome is a quick death. Burke Balch, Director of the Department of Medical Ethics at the Right Nation to Life, is convinced: "The so-called right to die will soon become the obligation to die."
Well, “Doctor Death” himself said: “I don't care what any court says. I don't care what laws are passed. I will do what I did …"
A. Ivanov
