Jack Kevorkian

Dr. Jack Kevorkian (born May 26, 1928) is a controversial American medical doctor. He is famous for advocating patient's "right to die" and assisting in the suicides of terminally ill people.

Early career

Kevorkian was born in 1928 in Pontiac, Michigan the son of Armenian immigrants. He received a medical degree with a specialty in pathology from the University of Michigan in 1952.

Related Topics:
1928 - Pontiac - Michigan - Armenia - Immigrant - Pathology - University of Michigan - 1952

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In 1956 he published a journal article, "The Fundus Oculi and the Determination of Death" discussing his efforts to photograph the eyes of dying patients, a practice that earned him the nickname "Doctor Death." In December 1958 he presented a paper at a meeting in Washington, D.C. advocating medical experimentation on consenting convicts during executions. Embarrassed, University of Michigan officials asked Kevorkian to leave his residency there. The University has since seemed to come to terms with its association with Dr. Kevorkian, as his class picture is included on the health system tour given to prospective medical students. He is the only graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School given this dubious distinction.

Related Topics:
1956 - Photograph - Eye - December - 1958 - Washington, D.C. - Executions

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In 1961 he published an article in The American Journal of Clinical Pathology detailing his experiments on transfusing blood from cadavers to live patients. In 1970, he became chief pathologist at Saratoga General Hospital in Detroit. He remained there until the late 1970s.

Related Topics:
1961 - The American Journal of Clinical Pathology - 1970 - Pathologist - Saratoga - Detroit - 1970s

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In the late '70s, he quit his pathology career, traveled to California, and invested his life savings in directing and producing a feature movie based on Handel's "Messiah". With no distributor, the movie flopped.

Related Topics:
California - Movie - Handel

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