Jack Kervorkian M.D.

Dr. Kevorkian started advertising in Detroit papers in 1987 as a “physician consultant” for “death counseling.” Between 1990 and 1998 Kevorkian assisted in the suicide of over 100 terminally ill people. In each of these cases, the individuals themselves took the final action which resulted in their own deaths: voluntary euthanasia. Dr. Kevorkian assisted only by attaching the individual to a device that he had made. The individual then pushed a button which released the drugs or chemicals that would end his or her own life.

On March 26, 1999, Kevorkian was charged with second-degree murder for the delivery of a controlled substance (administering a lethal injection to Thomas Youk, a quadraplegic with ALS disease).

A Michigan jury subsequently found Kevorkian guilty. He is currently in prison in Michigan, serving a 10-to-25-year sentence. On December 22, 2005 Kevorkian was denied parole by a board on the count of 7-2 recommending not to give parole.

He now seeks a pardon. He will become eligible for parole in 2007. In an MSNBC interview aired on September 29, 2005, Kevorkian indicated that if he is granted parole, he will not resume directly helping people die, and will restrict himself to campaigning to have the law changed.

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