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Jack Kevorkian, M.D. - Assisted Suicide and the “Right to Die”

Dr. Jack Kevorkian will speak at Nova Southeastern University on Thursday, advocating the decriminalization of assisted suicides and one's right to death when faced with a terminal illness.

The free event will be from 7 to 8:30 p.m at the University Center, 3301 College Ave.

Kevorkian's career studying terminal disease prompted him to decide that a doctor's choice to aid in a patient's suicide was ethical. He began assisting suicides in 1980, was arrested in 1998 and served eight years in prison.

Tickets are available by calling (954)-262-8236 or visiting http://www.undergrad.nova.edu/articles/dss/jackkevorkian Sun-Sentinel Written by — Andrew Ba Tran - January 31, 2009

Related topic galleries: Suicide, Nova Southeastern University, Jack Kevorkian, Colleges and Universities, Punishment, Celebrity Bad Behavior

Event Information February 5, 2009 7:00–8:30 p.m.
University Center Arena

The NSU community is invited to join the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences in welcoming Jack Kevorkian to campus and exploring highly charged scientific and social issues related to “Life and Death.” For more information about the Distinguished Speakers Series, contact the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences at (954) 262-8236.

Ticket Information: Tickets will be available starting January 5, 2009, from the Office of the Dean in the Mailman-Hollywood Building on NSU's main campus. Seating will be held for ticket holders until 6:30 p.m. If space permits, walk-ins are welcome to attend the event after 6:45 p.m.; however, doors close at 7:00 p.m.

Companion Events
Monday, February 2, 2009 6:00-8:00 p.m. "Immortality: Science Fact or Fiction" Carl DeSantis Building, Rooms 1048-1049 In preparation for Jack Kevorkian's talk, faculty members from the Division of Math, Science, and Technology will discuss current biological evidence for immortality.
http://www.undergrad.nova.edu/news/index.cfm?numNewsID=740

Tuesday, February 3, 2009 12:00-1:00 p.m. "Euthanasia and the Law" Parker Building, Room 240 As part of the college's Faculty Lecture Series, Jessica Garcia-Brown, J.D., assistant professor in the Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences, will introduce the legal and civil ramifications behind euthanasia in the United States.
http://www.undergrad.nova.edu/news/index.cfm?numNewsID=741

Wednesday, February 4, 2009 12:00-1:00 p.m. "In Search of the 'Funeral March' Codes" University Center, Room 309 The Division of Performing and Visual Arts will explore possible hidden themes in Frederic Chopin’s piano work “Funeral March".
http://www.undergrad.nova.edu/news/index.cfm?numNewsID=748

Wednesday, February 4, 2009 5:00-6:00 p.m.
"Euthanasia: Mercy or Murder?" Parker Building, Room 123B In preparation for Jack Kevorkian's talk, faculty members from the Division of Humanities will discuss implications of euthanasia.
http://www.undergrad.nova.edu/news/index.cfm?numNewsID=750

Added by LI Not Nova: Assisted Suicide (1:50) Embedding disabled by request

What is Potassium Chloride and it's uses?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_chloride

Article & Book - Our Right to Death - Unplugged: Reclaiming Our Right to Die in America, by William H. Colby, New York: AMACOM, 272 pages, $24.95
February 2007 | Our Right to Death: How medical breakthroughs challenge. How medical breakthroughs challenge easy answers about suicide.
This ongoing legal and social tug of war about what to do with the vegetative reached its most colorful apex, so far, in the Terri Schiavo case, in which a comatose young woman’s husband and parents battled each other over whether she would have preferred to live or die. Colby covers that tale exhaustively, including the unprecedented intrusion of the U.S. Congress, which in March 2005 passed the For the Relief of the Parents of Theresa Marie Schiavo Act. That law tried to give “jurisdiction to hear, determine and render judgment…for the alleged violation of any rights of Theresa Marie Schiavo” to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, a court known to be sympathetic to those opposed to allowing Schiavo to die. It also gave “any of Schiavo’s parents” the right to sue anyone involved in “withholding food, fluids, or medical treatment necessary to sustain her life.”
Armed with the bill, Schiavo’s parents made an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to have the patient’s feeding tube reinserted. The court rejected the appeal in a one-sentence ruling, and the empty shell that had been Terri Schiavo was at last allowed to be still. But further federal intervention to keep the dead alive remains a possibility.
People can claim autonomy over their fate if they wind up in a persistent vegetative state by registering “living wills,” documents that state specifically what treatments they would and would not accept in such a condition. Colby reports that even these are frequently ignored, particularly if a conscious family member disagrees with what the will contains and is willing to fight it in court. Read article: http://www.reason.com/news/show/118012.html

Nancy Beth Cruzan (July 20, 1957–December 26, 1990) was a figure in the right-to-die movement. On January 11, 1983, she lost control of her old car that had no seat belts, was thrown from it and landed face down in a water-filled ditch. Paramedics found her with no vital signs, but they resuscitated her. After a couple weeks of remaining dormant within a coma, she was diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state (PVS). Surgeons inserted a feeding tube for her long-term care. Her husband and parents waited for a more substantial recovery, but eventually, after four years, accepted that there was no hope. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Cruzan
Another article: In 1983, 25-year old Nancy Cruzan careened off the road, flipped over and was thrown from her car into a ditch.
“Few people are more central to changing the shape of how we die in America than Bill Colby, the attorney [who] brought the case of Nancy Cruzan to national attention.” http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/him/nancycruzan.cfm

Schiavo had collapsed in her home on February 25, 1990, and experienced respiratory and cardiac arrest, resulting in extensive brain damage, a diagnosis of persistent vegetative state (PVS) and 15 years of institutionalization. Terri Schiavo was healthy, active, and employed until her cardiac arrest event.
The Terri Schiavo case was a seven-year long successful fight to end her being kept on life support.
The local court's decision to disconnect Schiavo from life support was carried out, on March 18, 2005 and Schiavo died of effects of dehydration at a Pinellas Park hospice on March 31, 2005. After being deprived of food and fluids. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terri_Schiavo

Hospice; Preparing for Death

We hate talking about it. But everyone of us needs to know some of this sooner or later. The Hospice Foundation of America http://www.hospicefoundation.org/ has many resources including enabling you to locate a hospice. For resources for end-of-ilfe healthcare issues, including the establishment of healthcare proxies and advance directives, check these out: US Living Will Registry; http://www.uslivingwillregistry.com/
Cornell Medical College Div. of Medical Ethics;
http://fidelitywisdomandlove.org/
http://suddenlysenior.com/links.shtml

Official Website: http://www.undergrad.nova.edu/articles/dss/jackkevorkian/

Added by ladyirene on January 31, 2009