On Sunday November 22, 1998, 60 Minutes (CBS TV) aired a videotape of Dr. Kervorkian killing a 52 year old man by lethal injection. Mr. Tom Youk, a resident of Waterford Township, Michigan was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease two years ago at the age of fifty. He had previously led a very active life restoring vintage automobiles, racing, etc. His family said that he was in terrible pain, had lost the use of his arms and legs, had trouble breathing and was terrified of choking on his own saliva so they wrote to Dr. Kervorkian asking for his help.

The day of Mr. Youk's appointment with Dr. Kervorkian, he was asked by the Doctor if he would wait another week and Tom Youk agreed. As Dr. Kervorkian tells it, he received a telephone call the following day from one of Tom's brothers saying that "Tom wants it now". So two days after the initial meeting, Dr. Kervorkian returned. The family left the house as suggested by Dr. Kervorkian to avoid possible criminal charges of conspiracy to commit murder. Tom Youk was left with Dr. Kervorkian. What a tragic end to a life, alone in a room with Dr. Kervorkian, his needles and video-camera. Alone with Dr. Kervorkian, a de-licensed pathologist, unknown prior to embarking on his macabre killing crusade, a man whose specialty is death.

A member of Mr. Youk's family said she was "so grateful that someone would relieve him of his suffering. I don't consider it murder, I consider it humane, the way things should be". The way things should be? We can do better than kill people when they are ill, depressed or at the end of life. Euthanasia is the opposite of death with dignity. It promotes the social and medical abandonment of the individual and advocates the elimination of suffering by eliminating the sufferer. What then is our response to be in the face of suffering? The needs of the sufferer are best met by those who care, not by those who kill. The solution to physical and psychological suffering is to offer treatment for the illness and proper pain management to make the patient comfortable, enabling him to live with dignity in his journey towards death. Love and tenderness should surround the person who is ill reaffirming his inherent worth as a member of our human family. When euthanasia and assisted suicide are legal there is less emphasis on pain control and palliative care. One of Tom's brothers stated, "We were at the end of our rope, we didn't have any options. If it weren't for Dr. Kervorkian, I don't know what we would have done." There are other options to offer the weak, vulnerable and the helpless of this world besides Jack Kervorkian, such as adequate social, medical and community services for those in need.

Contrary to Dr. Kervorkian's assertion during this broadcast that euthanasia can be controlled and that only those who request it will be killed, the reality is quite different. The experience in Holland paints a much darker picture. Over the past twenty-five years, the practice of euthanasia in that country has ultimately given doctors, not patients, more power over end-of life decisions. Once euthanasia is accepted, its practice will be broadened to include anyone whose existence is not deemed meaningful, productive or desirable for any reason. The mentally and physically handicapped, the terminally ill, and the elderly have much to fear from a society which decides that some lives are not worth living and a medical establishment which takes into consideration the "value"of a life when making decisions about health care. The right to die will quickly become the duty to die.

Dr. Kervorkian stated, "The main thing is that the deed be done. Either they go or I will go. If I'm acquitted, they will go because they know they'll never convict me. If I'm convicted, I will starve to death in prison so I will go." He maintains that in an enlightened world, his actions would not constitute a crime. Killing, however, can never be regarded as legitimate, legal, medical care.

Whatever the motives, euthanasia is not compassion. We must not abandon the most vulnerable members of our society to the likes of Jack Kervorkian. We must continue to educate and inform about the alternatives to euthanasia and assisted suicide. Let us strive to build a civilization of love and a culture of life.