Dr. Jack Kevorkian died on June 3 of this year. He was 83 and died of natural causes, having spent 8 of his years in jail for empowering people to take control of their desired fate, allowing a pain-free alternative to those who choose to by-pass the health care system. It's not for everyone, but should it really be a crime? I am inspired to comment on his passing primarily because of the socio-economic and political context of his death.
Only recently did I hear that -- when the Social Security program was started, in August of 1935 -- life expectancy for men was 58, and for women was 62.
Think about that – Social Security begins at age 65.
80 is now the average life expectancy in the U.S. Add to this dramatic increase in life span, the costs of Medicare and Medicaid; the advances and associated costs of medicine (from inoculations against childhood diseases, to organ transplants, to cancer treatment); and malpractice litigation should anyone die, at all, from any diseases for which there was previously no treatment -- or from an unpredictable accident or cataclysmic event, such as 9/11 -- or even something predictable, such as smoking cigarettes. The cost to tax payers rapidly becomes unsustainable.
Then you add the now-competitive Big Business of hospitals and pharmaceuticals, and you have created something not unlike the plant in "Little Shop of Horrors"....saying to the shrinking U.S. work force, "Feed Me, Feed Me!" As with all macro-economics, it is hard to separate the financial crisis caused by the rising cost of health care from many other factors contributing to our massive national debt, but also on the overwhelming burden on a smaller population of working youth, supporting an aging population of baby boomers. What we have is a financial version of an inverted pyramid. It is a delicate balance before it topples.
Dr. Kevorkian stood up for an individual’s right to choose his or her time of death. He literally sacrificed his medical career, and went to jail for his beliefs that an individual has the right to choose a pain free death over an expensive, prolonged life – probably well illustrated by such cases as Judith Bement and Terri Schaivo.
None of us want to see our loved ones die, even if “their time has come.” Considering we all have to die sometime -- and many regard death as the end of suffering -- is it not the grief of those who are left behind that which provokes us to keep our loved ones alive at any expense? I respect everyone's rights to choose the amount they wish to spend on "going to extreme measures" to keeping alive a loved one who would otherwise perish. Some people do this with their pets.
BUT….how many of you are willing to pay the incredible expense to keep alive other people’s loved ones, no matter what the cost? Would you be willing to pay for Terri Schaivo to be kept on life support for another 15 or 20 years? Or would you rather see that money go to keep alive your own loved one? Or even yourself?
Much of the conundrum of Universal Health Care is -- who decides when to pull the plug? Who decides what is covered by minimal mandatory health care?
Dr. Kevorkian's death, along with the current cost of mandatory, universal health care in Mass., made me wonder -- how much of this aspect of the universal health care conundrum would be resolved by legalizing responsible “assisted suicide?" and, as Dr. Kevorkian proposed, licensing those doctors who are qualified to assist. It would be interesting to know how much legalizing assisted suicide might impact the cost of health care, possibly even the national debt.
Aside from the national debt and our individual unwillingness to foot the bill for the medical expenses of others, kudos to Kevorkian for his courage, for standing up for his ethical beliefs and for individual rights. "Jail is not that hard when you know you are innocent."
For those who thought Kevorkian was a murderer and should have gone to jail, do you also oppose Universal Health Care, Socialized Medicine, and do not want to pay more taxes to subsidize the health care of those who can't afford it? If so, I suggest thath you reconsider Kevorkian's whether he was a criminal by offering an alternative, at no financial gain to himself.
I invite you to click through to any of the links to TV interviews [THIS is one of my favorites. Very provocative, and Kevorkian's logic is exceptional. What struck me as most humorous paradox was Andy Rooney calling Jack Kevorkian "a bit of an odd ball." Just listening to this intereview, I have to ask..."Who's really the odd ball?"] This interview shows an aged but obviously very sensible and rational man, just released from 8 years in prison. "You've lost common sense in this society!" he states very correctly with great passion. (I believe I have a post on this blog about the "Commonsenseless" Commonwealth of Mass.)
After his prison time, Dr. K. went on to have an impressive speaking career. Al Pacino played Kevorkian in a movie on Kevorkian's life, YOU DON'T KNOW JACK. [Click HERE to see his last interview, after having seen the premier of this movie about him; and click HERE to see the movie trailer.] The only justice that came from sending this man to jail -- he got free room and board in his old age -- paid for by U.S. tax payers.
Not only do I agree with Kevorkian about our society having lost most of its common sense, and with his assertion that "dying is not a crime," I agree with this comment by a viewer of one of his many YouTube TV clips: "Yes, Doctor Kavorkian, RIP~~~I believe you hit upon a major concept, we all die alone and we all have different versions of 'death with dignity'."
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