I'm trying to knock the medical profession into accepting its responsibilities, and those responsibilities include assisting their patients with death.
Jack KevorkianRead
First of all, do any of you here think it's a crime to help a suffering human end his agony? Any of you think it is? Say so right now. Well, then, what are we doing here?
Interpretation
The quote questions the moral implications of assisting those in pain, challenging the audience's views on suffering and mercy.
Jack Kevorkian's provocative statement highlights the ethical dilemmas surrounding euthanasia and the role of compassion in alleviating suffering. By directly engaging the audience and asking them to reflect on their beliefs, he prompts a deeper consideration of the societal and moral responsibilities toward those in anguish, ultimately questioning why such discussions are often avoided.
In practice
In a public debate on assisted dying, this quote could serve as a powerful opener to challenge opposing views.
I'm trying to knock the medical profession into accepting its responsibilities, and those responsibilities include assisting their patients with death.
My aim in helping the patient was not to cause death. My aim was to end suffering. It's got to be decriminalized.
The patient decides when it's best to go.
Five to six thousand people die every year waiting for organs, but nobody cares.
Like the winds that we come we know not whence and blow whither soever they list, the forces of society are derived from an obscure and distant origin. They arise before the date of philosophy, from the instincts, not the speculations of men.
The question of souls is oldβwe demand our bodies, now. We are tired of promises, god is deaf, and his church is our worst enemy.
I cannot affirm God if I fail to affirm man. Therefore, I affirm both. Without a belief in human unity I am hungry and incomplete. Human unity is the fulfillment of diversity. It is the harmony of opposites. It is a many-stranded texture, with color and depth.
The American experience influenced my understanding of individuality, basic human rights, freedom of expression and the rights and responsibilities of citizens.
Food, one assumes, provides nourishment; but Americans eat it fully aware that small amounts of poison have been added to improve its appearance and delay its putrefaction.
Any effort to make the death penalty speedier and less costly - more 'efficient' - will inevitably make it less just.
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