Kevorkian: Not Ready to Die

Dr. Jack Kevorkian has been called many things. To some he’s an angel of mercy, to others an angel of death.  I never expected him to be a cynic.

Kevorkian is famous for his role in over 130 assisted suicides – a procedure he refers to  as Patholysis.  In an interview with CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta they explained the term:

“Path means disease or suffering,” he said to me.

“And lysis, means destruction,” I said.

“Exactly,” he answered. “Patholysis,” he repeated. “The destruction of suffering.”

Death and suffering

In theory, putting an end to suffering sounds like a good thing, but when that end comes at the cost of a person’s life the debate gets a lot more complicated.  For some it is very simple: taking a life is cruel.  For others, making someone suffer with no hope of relief is just as cruel, if not crueler.  But it wasn’t Kevorkian’s views on death that surprised me, it was his views on life.

In the interview he asks Dr. Gupta, “Sanjay, you want to know the single worst moment of my life?”  and then answers his own question saying “The single worst moment of my life… was the moment I was born.”

I expected someone who had fought so hard for the right to die to place a higher value on life itself. If life is meaningless and birth is cruel why wait until someone gets sick to ‘treat them with patholysis’?

Dr. Kevorkian is an old man now.  At 82 he has earned a medical degree and lost his license,  fought for his patients, and served 8 years in prison.   Loved or loathed, he made a name for himself.  It’s strange to think that he would wish his life had never happened.

Not ready to die

And yet, he goes on to tell Gupta that he is not ready to die.  It’s a strange paradox that he places so little value on life, is so willing to help others ‘slip this mortal coil’ and yet at the same time, wants to stick around.

It seems that even in the face of a life he never wanted, Kevorkian has a reason to live.  I wish Gupta had  asked him what the criteria was for ending life.  When is the reason to live no longer good enough?

I think a lot of us have had moments where we wonder what the point of life is, but these feelings are often fleeting.  Gupta made a very good point later in the interview when he said:

“In times of desperation, people may make decisions they regret,” I [Gupta] started up again. “This isn’t about deciding whether you want frozen yogurt or ice cream. These decisions about patholysis are … forever.”

In her article “Giving Life Another Chance” Lynette Hoy, a registered counselor writes about the chemistry of the brain that contributes to depression.  She writes:

Your feelings and your depression cannot be trusted. Feelings are not objective truth. Feelings are indicators of subjective thinking and you need to explore the thoughts you have been dwelling on that have led you to contemplate suicide. Thinking about killing yourself is believing lies about life and about the future. Many people in the past have struggled with depression but, they didn’t cave into or trust the feelings. They had the courage to go on, the courage to believe that their future and that their life could be different.

If you find yourself wondering if life is worth living, there is help available.  This article has our best resources for finding help in your area.

What makes life worth living? Hope? Love? Purpose? Something to dream about? Is the idea that tomorrow could be better enough of a reason to stick around and find out? Is life and death ever something we should take into our own hands? We’d love to hear from you.

Do wonder why you’re here? Try our free life lesson Soul Cravings: Destiny to learn why the world desperately needs you.

Tags: death, destiny, Dr. Kevorkian, faith, hope, LIFE, mercy, purpose

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