On hearing that U.S. suicide champion Jack Kevorkian is to be tried again for “helping” someone to commit suicide, we were tempted to say, “Put us out of our misery! Convict the man already!”
So far, no jury has been willing to hold the de-licensed “Dr. Death” responsible for even one of the scores of deaths he has presided over in his macabre career. (The body count, according to Kevorkian himself, is now over 120.)
Most commentators speculated that this time it might be different, since Kevorkian directly killed his latest victim (instead of rigging up a button for his victim to press, in order to die with “dignity”) – and this time, the good doctor did his grandstanding on national TV (on 60 Minutes, if you please).
We hope they’re right; but why should it be any differnt, just because Kevorkian himself pulled the trigger this time? According to the illogic which has spared Kevorkian thus far, if “helping” someone to kill himself is compassionate, doing the deed entirely for that person would seem to be nobler still.
We’re reminded of another successful practitioner of high-profile civil disobedience – Canada’s abortion kingpin, Henry Morgentaler. We can only pray that the jurors in Kevorkian’s latest case won’t be so naive. Right now, assisted suicide is illegal in Michigan. Soon, if Kevorkian isn’t stopped decisively, objecting to assisted suicide will be.
