HBO is coming to Michigan this week to film some scenes for its movie, "You Don't Know Jack," about the apostle of assisted suicide, Dr. Kevorkian. This is probably not much of a testimonial, by the way, to Michigan's policy of offering tax breaks to movie makers. Most of the movie was shot in New York, and they are just coming here for some Oakland County courthouse scenes.
I imagine I'll see the movie, but for me it will be an anticlimax, since I had a ringside seat at the real thing. I covered the Kevorkian trials for the New York Times, and had behind-the-scenes access to the defense team for the first trial, which I covered for Vanity Fair.
I participated in the making of numerous news documentaries about him. In the course of all that, I saw and talked to Kevorkian maybe a hundred times between 1993 and 1999, when he was sent off to prison. When the judge sentenced him for second degree murder, Kevorkian winked at me.
"Now I've got them right where I want them," he said.
Well, maybe not. As the prosecutor said to me that day, "prisoners usually don't get to hold press conferences."
Out of sight, out of mind. As it turned out, Kevorkian had used up his fifteen minutes of fame. During the eight years he was in prison, he was mostly forgotten. When he came out, it was to a different world. After September 11, the idea of voluntary suicide had lost some of its appeal. While I was covering him, I was sometimes attacked for being too favorable towards Dr. Death. Later, Kevorkian said he would no longer talk to me because I was, in his words, "too objective."
I've been called worse.
Frankly, it took me a while to figure Kevorkian out. In fact, he was not really a physician, but a brilliant and emotionally very odd scientist who was fascinated by the transition from life to death.
He had virtually no authentic human warmth. He intellectually believed those suffering beyond hope should be allowed to end their lives with a doctor's help, if they were of sound mind.
I agreed with him then, and do now.
However, he also ruined his own movement and discredited himself by increasingly reckless behavior.
But he did accomplish something for mankind that he probably never intended. When he started helping people die, the medical community was far too callous towards people in pain.
Virtually no provision had been made for end-of-life care. The threat of Jack Kevorkian helped change that. Suddenly, the hospice movement won vast new support as an alternative.
And doctors became more sensitive. I had to fight to get my father adequate pain medication on his deathbed. When my mother was dying under similar circumstances thirteen years later, the same hospital kept her comfortable without having to be asked.
In my case, the movie title isn't adequate. I did know Jack, rather well in fact. More importantly, I know something about how most of us die, and it isn't very pleasant. Whatever his motives, his odd crusade to help speed that passage for a few ended up easing it for many more. I think that's how he ought to be remembered.
Please make it so that you can READ the essay again. I used to be able to read it in my Google Reader, and that was awesome. Then you made it so that all I saw there was a synopsis, and I had to come to the web page to read the essay, and that sucks. NOW I have to listen to it. Screw that. My computer doesn't have an audio player and I like it like that. I don't have the ability to listen to this article on the radio, and I really liked reading it. But making it harder for your fans to access your essays is NOT cool.
Posted by: Alli | October 16, 2009 at 11:12 AM
Alli, the body of this essay was omitted by mistake. We don't intend to force you to listen to the essays. Furthermore, if the feed used to contain the body and now only contains an excerpt, this might be due to a recent upgrade to the TypePad service. I have now changed the settings so that the feed will contain the full essays. Thanks for expressing your thoughts.
Nick Meador
Web Content Administrator
Michigan Radio
Posted by: Nick M | October 22, 2009 at 10:13 AM