Not by assisted suicide. From the Detroit Free Press story:
Known as Dr. Death even before launching his fierce advocacy and practice of assisted suicides, Kevorkian, 83, died at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, where he had been hospitalized with kidney and heart problems. His attorney, Mayer Morganroth, said it appears Kevorkian suffered a pulmonary thrombosis when a blood clot from his leg broke free and lodged in his heart. With Kevorkian was his niece Ava Janus and Morganroth. “It was peaceful, he didn’t feel a thing,” Morganroth said.
Kevorkian was a disturbed man who, I fear, understood his society–and the media–all too well. And that may be his legacy. He perceived how far some will bend to rationalize even the most egregious wrongdoing or advocacy if the excuse is relieving suffering. Time will tell if he was also a prophet of a dark utilitarian society to come.
What is the proper response to the death of someone like Kevorkian? We should, at least for the moment, set disputes aside and hope that in whatever comes next, he finds forgiveness and peace. In this regard, Kevorkian was a death-obsessed atheist who zealously believed that when he died–nothing. He now knows (or doesn’t) whether he was right.
June 3rd, 2011 | 11:03 am
What is the proper response to the death of someone like Kevorkian? We should, at least for the moment, set disputes aside and hope that in whatever comes next, he finds forgiveness and peace. In this regard, Kevorkian was a death-obsessed atheist who zealously believed that when he died–nothing. He now knows (or doesn’t) whether he was right.
I am no universalist by any means, Wes, but my sympathies are echoed in your words.
June 3rd, 2011 | 11:19 am
“One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.” –John Donne
June 3rd, 2011 | 12:25 pm
I dunno, my response has been to inform people already praising him about who he really was, because they are wholly ignorant, even those old enough in Michigan to have lived through most of it. Unfortunately, he is being worshiped like a prophet at the moment. Hard to put down the pen when others are wielding it in defense of euthanasia so willingly… sigh.
June 3rd, 2011 | 12:27 pm
[...] After posting the brief response to the death of Jack Kevorkian here this morning, The Corner asked me to reflect further. I decided to focus on Kevorkian as holding up a “dark mirror” to society. From my post: So, now that he is gone, what is Kevorkian’s legacy? He assisted the suicides of 130 or so people and lethally injected at least two by his own admission (his first and his last); as a consequence of the latter, he served nearly ten years in prison for murder. But I think his more important place in contemporary history was as a dark mirror that reflected how powerful the avoidance of suffering has become as a driving force in society, and indeed, how that excuse seems to justify nearly any excess. [...]
June 6th, 2011 | 8:59 am
[...] over the weekend. Wesley J. Smith, one of Kervorkian’s leading critics, reflects on his death here and here. He then reviews various media obituaries for Dr. Death, mostly negatively: Bloomberg, New [...]
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