Glenn Tucker’s Blog

Glenn Tucker (sorry in advance this is on such a dark subject)

Upon picking up a copy of the Michigan Daily, I read about how the U of M produces alumni that were murderers: “Darth Vader” (James Earl Jones), Ted Kuzinsky, Jack Kevorkian, etc. Yale had graduated the most Supreme Court justices and Michigan the most killers. Although this was certainly an eye-catching story, my attention soon focused on Kevorkian, who was released from prison this past June. To fill some of you in, Dr. Kevorkian was a champion of the right to die (also known as physician-assisted suicide). He operated a private practice that helped those in pain from terminal illness pull the plug, so to speak. (It was later discovered that some of his ‘patients’ were suffering from depression.) He was convicted in 1999 of second-degree murder, which sparked a nation-wide controversy over euthanasia. In 2001, the John Ashcroft-led Department of Justice tried and failed to overturn a 1994 Oregon state law allowing physician-assisted suicide. Upon his recent release from prison, he vowed not to ‘help’ any patients, but that his energy would be focused on advocating physician-assisted suicide on the state level.

The reason I chose this for my blog post is that it’s an extremely important item to discuss when talking about the body as social space. Is it right to end one’s life prematurely if in extreme pain? If it is a doctor’s job to ensure the well-being of their patient, what happens when the patient is terminally ill? Is it the doctor’s duty to serve the patients wish in situations like these?

I personally support euthanasia if it is regulated. I see no moral issue if it is a patient’s will to end their suffering due to a terminal disease. I also believe that it is the patient’s right to make such decisions and they should have help from the medical world in such situations.