Dr. Jack Kevorkian assisted over 130 people terminally ill patients in ending their lives, and served 8 years in prison as his compensation. “Dr. Death” as some people call him, got of of prison in 2007 and is the subject of a new HBO movie called; You Don’t Know Jack, starring Al Pacino. This is a movie every critical thinker should see, because it raises a fundamental question: “Do we have the right to end of own lives?” The U.S. government says no. Watch this short post and see what you think. I’ll look forward to your comments and another spirited debate. Steve Siebold ( 4:41 )
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Hi Steve
You bring up some great points and some event bigger questions. How far down the rabbit hole do you want to go?
I would have re-tweeted or Facebook “liked” this video if you had the buttons by the way.
Jon
I’m with you Steve. My Dad contracted Cancer and died in 10 days. My mom contracted cancer, suffered terribly and died in 11 months. So, should Dr. Kevorkian have been asked to help my Mom so she would not have suffered? Here’s the question: If you asked my Dad to choose he might have said give me more time, I don’t want to leave my family in 10 days. If you ask my Mom, she might have said, get me out of this pain. The point is … It would have been their decision. But under current law it is illegal. So, bottom line? Let’s ask those who are going through it.
I believe there are three issues that need to be addressed:
1. Is human life far more valuable that animal life. Many evolutionists/atheists/animal rights people might not think so, but many members of Christianity and conservative Judaism do believe so and for good reasons which I will shortly address. I would recommend reading this good article: http://creation.com/euthanasia-hospital-humanism
2. If the government permits euthanasia, then history teaches us that it may be only a matter of time before the nannystate tells the public when they think it is best that people end their lives and actively pulls the plug at the hospital and there is historical precedent for this. In October of 1939 amid the turmoil of the outbreak of war Adolf Hitler ordered widespread “mercy killing” of the sick and disabled. see: http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/h-euthanasia.htm
3. Adolf Hitler was an ardent evolutionists and believed in the survival of the fittest and also killing of supposedly inferior races and supposedly weak people. Hitler was an evolutionary racist. Darwin errantly believed non-white races were inferior as well and that the white races would exterminate the supposedly inferior non-white races. It is not merely coincidental that the full name of Charles Darwin’s most famous book was titled On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life
Lastly, there are a lot of good reasons to believe the whole evolutionary paradigm is bunk and leads to a lot of bad consequences. I recommend reading this resource: http://www.conservapedia.com/Evolution
Steve, I have read some of your books and have benefitted from them. I must say I am surprised by your position on Kevorkian. I disagree with your premise that Kevorkian is mentally tough. Instead, I think just the opposite. He is mentally weak because he does not have the compassion, courage nor the strength to let someone’s life run its natural course without feeling like he has to help them “check out.”
Here are some of my thoughts on suicide, self inflicted or physician assisted:
+There is a huge difference between allowing a terminally ill patient to
die, and taking his/her life. With the pain medicines available today,
people can die, relatively pain free, when it is their time to go.
+Killing the terminally ill is still killing.
+Taking one’s own life is self murder.
+People are not animals. We are made in the image of God and have
value, even in a terminal state of life, that far exceeds any dog.
+Our bodies do not belong to us and we are not free to do with them
whatever we want. Our bodies belong to God and we are to take care
of them, not destroy them.
It seems to me that a middle class mentality would say, “Things are not going to get any better, I think I will get someone to help me quit.” On the other hand, a world class mentality would be optimistic about beating an illness instead of giving up.
Just my thoughts,
Todd
Legal, moral or not, I can take my own life if I want to do it. The law can’t stop me.
My guess is that the “books” state-by-state and federally are full of bad laws, old laws, laws that aren’t used much if at all, and laws that in specific situaitons would take my rights away from me.
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How about a mentally tough question: is it OK to remove all laws that dictate when and when not a person can take his or her own life and replace it with: it is legal for anyone over the age of 16 to take his or her own life under any circumstances?
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Another question is: if assisted self removal from life is legal, who is legally – OK, now we have another law – allowed to help the one who needs assistance?
Mentally tough answers?
Mike
Hi Steve,
I totally agree with you on this one Steve.
Cheers Will
One can be mentally tough on any side of this issue. Maybe Lisa wants no one but who – I don’t know – to terminate life when – whenever – well if it isn’t the government then it’s anyone so who are the anyone?
Yup – lets have anarchy – no government – libeetarianism to the max – everything goes. Eliminate the cops too. Get rid of it all so people can live peacefully without the government causing so much trouble.
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John doesn’t like whipers – just give it a shout out and let it rip. But again – who decides when the person can’t and loved ones don’t agree?
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Brenda says Kevorkian performed a much needed service. How many of those should we have and are they regulated by state or federal or no government? If none, I think I can build a company on people who want the “pull the plug” job. AND asa CEO I’ll make some bucks.
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Larry makes some good points but even replaceable parts will wear out and then there’s the God issue. So is this any answer?
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Steve asks: do we have the right to end our own life? which is a yes or no quesiton until you look at every situation and who decides and when – which brings us back to laws state or federal.
An option would be: no laws regarding this – when someone says: I want to die! OR it’s in a living document when to pull the plug, you call Mike’s Mortality CO. and I find one of my workers to do it – for a fee of course.
On the other hand, many would do it for nothing.
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Cold blooded killers can be mentally tough as can people who are against euthansia.
I have a lot more mentally tough questions and haven’t decided an answer for myself.
Thoughts?
Mike
Steve,
I am so tired of the Government infringing on my rights. I believe that if a person is deemed of sound mind, they should have the right to end their life with dignity. Why should someone have to suffer when their is a humane way to die on your own terms?? Just wait till Obama care kicks in, it will be even worse. The Government will be telling us when THEY think we should die. Like when they are tired of paying for treatments. My Dad had terminal brain cancer, and as much as I wanted him to get better, he wasn’t. He was miserable and wanted to die. Who has the right to tell him that after living 70 years on his own terms, that he did not have the right to make his final decision? The Government needs to stick to what they do best…..NOTHING!!!! Just my 2 cents…Can’t wait to attend mental toughness University in Houston!!!! See you then!
This HOT topic is especially interesting to me for a few reasons. One, I saw the premiere of “You Don’t Know Jack” too, and thought it was a terrific movie. Kevorkian was a neighbor of some Michigan friends of ours when he had a place on a lake.
Another reason to watch it was my belief that Jack was a sort of a saint. I am convinced there are tens of thousands of extremely ill people every year who die sooner than they would naturally, because they are BLESSED with compassionate friends, relatives and doctors to help them check out. Also, doctors and family members see that treatments get withheld all the time in some terminal cases, so the patient can end his or her non-stop pain and suffering. And nobody goes to prison over it.
Something happened in my family in the early 80s. My dad was 79 and his memory was gone. Not Alzheimer’s, but years of heavy drinking. People actually were in awe with the amount of alcohol he could put away. (Not me.) But it took a huge toll on his brain cells and he was in heavy duty dementia. One day, suddenly, his kidneys failed. In the hospital, the doctor discussed with my mother that he could have dialysis three times a week and live on with his emphysema and dementia. Or he could be kept comfortable. He died comfortable and at peace in the hospital in two weeks; with the blessing of time for his loved ones to reminisce (though he didn’t remember much) and visit and say goodbyes to him.
My personal opinion in all this is, Kevorkian performed a much needed service. I think, more than we realize, many people in hospitals and homes around the world are able to very quietly and kindly make the end less difficult and stop suffering and pain of loved ones without reprimand. No doubt some of them are inspired by Kevorkian’s work. Kevorkian deserves admiration for his compassion and MAJOR courage. That’s one mentally tough man.
Oh and the religion argument – well, I think it’s God who decides when someone dies anyway, regardless of circumstances.
Steve, love your book 177 Mental toughness Secrets of The World Class.It has taught me not to give up. With that in mind,Medicine has come so far since Jack assisted with the 130 deaths.I believe in the near future we will be able to reverse the aging,heal whatever is broken (example bad hearing heart ,lungs eyes) We will actually be able to TURN BACK TIME in the human body. Until that time ,you may have a point, but how does that balance out with God ?