Assisted Suicide Essay

Caitlin Jewell

Eng. Comp 102-118

Mr. Neuburger

2 February 2013

Response Essay

A Case Of Assisted Suicide

Jack Kevorkian, author of “A Case Of Assisted Suicide,” told the story of how he wanted to help suffering patients commit suicide. After reading this, one can see that Kevorkian’s only interest was to help his patients. Kevorkian stated, “Because Janet’s condition was deteriorating and there was nothing else that might help arrest it, I decided to accept her as the first candidate... “(318). He only wanted to do the assisted suicide if there was no other treatment and only if the patient came to him. One may speculate that this act would be murder and that Kevorkian wanted to kill people. Clearly Kevorkian only wanted to help the person because he never forced it upon the patient, it was their choice. Kevorkian described his first patient, Janet Adkins,“The intelligent woman knew what the diagnosis portended, and at that instant she decided she would not live to experience the horror of such a death.” (318). In contrast, since Janet was diagnosed with alzheimers and didn’t want to suffer that way, Kevorkian wanted to help her go peacefully. After reading, this portrays how one man only wanted to help people who had no other choice, he didn’t want to see people suffer if they themselves didn’t want to go through the agony.

(word count 218)

Kevorkian, Jack. Power of Language; Language of Power: A Collection of Readings. 2nd ed. Boston: Pearson, 2011. 317-23. Print.