Althouse: Dr. Death dead.

June 3, 2011

Dr. Death dead.

Jack Kevorkian, 83, "claimed to have assisted in at least 130 suicides. Convicted of second-degree murder in the late '90s, he spent eight years in prison."

27 comments:

Scott M said...: So...did he get to take the up escalator or the down escalator?; 6/3/11, 8:03 AM
Mr. Buford said...: Curly Bill: Well...bye.
Johnny Ringo: Smell that, Bill? Smells like someone died.; 6/3/11, 8:06 AM
TWM said...: "So...did he get to take the up escalator or the down escalator?"

I'm thinking down since he seemed to be in it for the thrill of it. The power. The controversy.

Whatever you think of euthanasia, he was not a good man.; 6/3/11, 8:07 AM
traditionalguy said...: So Kervorkian meets his master. I hope he and Death enjoy swapping war stories together and showing off painted decals of the living persons that they shot down by working together on their crafty deceptions. Obama and his new unconfirmed Health Care Czar Donald Berwick will probably Declare a national holiday to honor Kervorkian and Death. It takes great schooling to smoothly assist Death using a Health Care Czar's Newspeak in an English accent.; 6/3/11, 8:13 AM
Scott M said...: Zoidberg: So you want to die?
Bender: Yes.
Zoidberg: Come by my office. I'll set you up with a nice Kevorkian.; 6/3/11, 8:14 AM
Unknown said...: Dr. Kevorkian...he's from my hometown. Used to walk by his apartment building all the time. He had some of his rather, er, interesting paintings on display in a storefront on the first floor. After he left they tore the building down and put up another in its place.; 6/3/11, 8:15 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: Whatever you think of euthanasia, he was not a good man.

Why's that? Somebody always has to do the dirty work. Why do we always get so huffy about that?

Unfortunately, there are thousands of old folks who desperately want to leave this world and have no way of doing it. I don't know what to do about their suffering. Do you?

Anyway, in the interest of setting the tone for the day, here's Dilbert on the nuances of internet debate. As usual, Dilbert nails it.

TWN, for reasons I can't fully explicate at the moment, I'm certain you are a racist... against old people who want to die. Aren't they a race?; 6/3/11, 8:15 AM
MadisonMan said...: That Dilbert is excellent.; 6/3/11, 8:20 AM
Scott M said...: Aren't they a race?

If they are, it's a very slow one.; 6/3/11, 8:20 AM
gerry said...: Slip, slip, slip...

It goes from
"I WANT TO DIE!"
to
"Hmmm...they can't tell us if they want to die, so we'll assume they do"
to
"They don't know that their life will be really of reduced quality, so we know they'd be better off dead."; 6/3/11, 8:25 AM
TWM said...: "TWN, for reasons I can't fully explicate at the moment, I'm certain you are a racist... against old people who want to die. Aren't they a race?"

Probably, anything can be a race now. Just like anything can be racism.

But you got me, I love the suffering of old people. It's like unicorn teardrops to me - so sweet.; 6/3/11, 8:26 AM
Tregonsee said...: One time, he actually managed to make me laugh. It seems that someone passed out, or something similar nearby, and he went to render first aid. When the person came around, he clearly recognized Dr. K, who hurriedly assured him it was nothing serious.; 6/3/11, 8:29 AM
TWM said...: "Why's that? Somebody always has to do the dirty work. Why do we always get so huffy about that?"

Some work, in my humble opinion, is just too dirty to be done. I find euthanasia abhorrent myself . . . not because it doesn't often relieve suffering, but because it's one of those slippery slopes that I fear humanity is sliding down.

But again I was speaking strictly of Kevorkian who I feel was in it more for the attention than any altruistic reasons.; 6/3/11, 8:34 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: Some work, in my humble opinion, is just too dirty to be done.

Yeah, it's pretty bad. But my opinion here is just about the same as my opinion on abortion.

Abortion is awful. It should be discouraged in every way possible. But some women are gonna need or get an abortion no matter what you do. So, you have to provide those women with a safe way to get an abortion. And, some medical profession has to provide the service. That's just an ugly fact of life. Damned if I want anything to do with it if I can avoid it.

About the same as euthanasia.; 6/3/11, 8:48 AM
Fred4Pres said...: I thought he was already dead.; 6/3/11, 8:51 AM
The Dude said...: That was Timothy Leary.; 6/3/11, 9:08 AM
KCFleming said...: Is he really most sincerely dead?

Can I have his shoes? I need to get back to Kansas.; 6/3/11, 9:26 AM
edutcher said...: Somebody thought it would be funny to send The Blonde a Jack Kevorkian gift card.

She didn't.

Mr. Buford said...

Curly Bill: Well...bye.
Johnny Ringo: Smell that, Bill? Smells like someone died.

Marshal Earp: You tell'em I'm comin', ...
And Hell's comin' with me!; 6/3/11, 10:26 AM
Anonymous said...: Shouting Thomas said...

"[...] is awful. It should be discouraged in every way possible. But some [people] are gonna need or get [...] no matter what you do. So, you have to provide those [people] with a safe way to get [...]. And, some medical profession has to provide the service. That's just an ugly fact of life. Damned if I want anything to do with it if I can avoid it."

Isn't this also an argument in favor of licensing hit men? I mean, if murder is bound to happen anyway, why not make sure it is done professionally? Right?; 6/3/11, 10:38 AM
rhhardin said...: Smells like someone died.

Death, Where Is Thy Stink; 6/3/11, 10:49 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: Isn't this also an argument in favor of licensing hit men? I mean, if murder is bound to happen anyway, why not make sure it is done professionally? Right?

Go visit Dilbert! You are a prime example of what he's talking about.; 6/3/11, 11:51 AM
Anonymous said...: My point (which I did not think needed elaborating upon) was that the intrinsic morality of an act, as well as the amount of tolerance a society ought to show for it, has nothing to do with whether the act already occurs anyway. To say that it does is to relativize everything in the universal solvent of multiculturalism: any kind of barbarism can be defended upon those grounds.

If that be Internet-caliber discussion, then make the best of it.; 6/3/11, 12:45 PM
Clyde said...: Not an assisted suicide. Oh, the irony!; 6/3/11, 2:04 PM
Scott M said...: Oh, the irony!

More ironic than Dr Atkins, the biggest promoter of an heavy meat diet, dying a vegetable?; 6/3/11, 2:07 PM
JC said...: If your main (and apparently) only argument against something is a slippery slope argument, you do not have a very strong case.

I myself have MS. If it ever gets to the point where I'm not even physically capable of ending it myself, I'll certainly hope there are more Dr. Kevorkians around.; 6/3/11, 2:12 PM
TWM said...: "If your main (and apparently) only argument against something is a slippery slope argument, you do not have a very strong case.

I myself have MS. If it ever gets to the point where I'm not even physically capable of ending it myself, I'll certainly hope there are more Dr. Kevorkians around."

Why wait until you are not physically capable to do it yourself? If you know you're destined to pass that point, save everyone the trouble and do it yourself. Seems to me that is the responsible thing to do.

That said I am not wishing that for you. I have a sister-in-law with MS and wish for a cure along with my wife and our family.; 6/3/11, 6:54 PM
JC said...: Why not? Because until it gets to that point, it is still possible to actually live a life, as opposed to being in bed, incapable of doing anything.

And it's not like you can tell when it's going to happen. It depends on when a relapse will occur, and where it will attack when it does occur, both of which are completely impossible. The majority of the damage from my first attack was in the spine. So it's possible I could be paralyzed with the next one. Or it's possible that it wouldn't happen for decades. Or it's possible I could never have a relapse. And so on. And that's why ending it yourself before it gets to that point isn't really an option. If people knew when that point would be, there wouldn't be a demand for Dr. Kevorkians.; 6/3/11, 8:21 PM