1999+Jack+Kervorkian+Trial

Home TIMELINE TOPICS ASSIGNMENT: Who Is A Person In America?

1999 Jack Kervorkian Trial

Graham D.


 * [[image:http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/kevorkian1.JPG width="379" height="235" caption="Here is Jack with his injection machine (AP Images)"]] || [[image:http://api.ning.com/files/iXVL8QM*02sCXp4h8hskn4Th-lhMlG30xMaKIdncWZ9pSX4SPBWDNRaHQaYvx-aHkL1MUJfooPraojMgoIiCTbZlpzFi-BVn/kevorkianpic.jpg width="302" height="465" caption="Dr. Death grabed the attation of the public and here he is on the cover of TIME Magazine (AP Images) "]] ||


 * TASK I: **

==== Yesterday Dr. Jack Kevorkian’s trial came to an end with Kevorkian going to jail after assisting in 130 deaths between 1990 and 1998. According to Geoffrey Fieger, Kevorkians lawyer “Kevorkian only assisted in the suicide deaths of terminally ill people”(Schneider). “Judge Jessica Cooper of the Oakland County Circuit sentenced Kevorkian to 10 to 25 years in prison for second-degree murder and three to seven years for delivery of a controlled substance”(Schenider). Dr. Death, as some people know him, is an assisted-suicide doctor. ====

==== Kevorkian’s first public assisted suicide was in 1990, when Janet Adkins, a 54-year-old woman diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 1989 died. Kevorkian was charged with murder, but charges were dropped because there where no laws in Michigan about assisted suicide, but in 1991 the State of Michigan took away Kevorkian's medical license. Kevorkian assisted in 130 deaths of terminally ill people between 1990 and 1998. In every case, the person who wanted to die took the final action that killed them. Kevorkian said he only assisted by hooking up the person to a device he had made that would kill the person. The person would push a button that released the drugs that would end his or her own life. Kevorkian used two ways to assist in the death of people. A device that delivered drugs through tubes into the person’s body and a device that a gas mask connected to carbon monoxide. ====

Kevorkian will be sent to prison in Coldwater, Michigan to do his time.
"Kevorkian gets 10 to 25 years in prison." //CNN// 13 Apr. 1999: n. pag. //CNN.com//. Web. 19 Sept. 2011. .

Task 1: Mastery Rubric A quality news article will: •open with an attention-grabbing headline •identify the author's name and the date of the publication (in the past) •develop the 5 W's in three power paragraphs •paragraph 1: contain an interesting lead •paragraph 2: need to cite a secondary source (an indirect quote) •paragraph 3: correctly cite a primary source (eyewitness account) •maintain appropriate journalistic voice •read like an article written in the same time period as the event occurred •be free of mechanics and Works Cited errors

TASK II

Should a dying person be able to kill them self’s with the help of another person ?

PROMPT 1: Why did the majority of Americans not recognize the rights of members of this group?

The majority of Americans did not recognize the rights of the members of this group because at that time Americans thought that terminally ill people should not have the right to kill them self. People that are terminally ill have a "Situation in which there is no reasonable medical possibility that the patient's condition will not continue to degenerate and result in death"(Belluck). So, the people that choose to die where already going to die, but the American public thought that those people should not have that right. Americans saw those people as people with equal rights to themselves, but thought that thermally ill people shouldn’t have the right to die and it was god’s choice to decide when they died.

BELLUCK, PAM. "Dr. Kevorkian Is a Murderer, The Jury Finds." // The New York Times //

27 Mar. 1999: n. pag. // nytimes.com //. Web. 29 Sept. 2011.

<[|http://www.nytimes.com]>.

BELLUCK, PAM. "Dr. Kevorkian Is a Murderer, The Jury Finds." //The New York Times// 27 Mar. 1999: n. pag. //nytimes.com//. Web. 29 Sept. 2011. . PROMPT 2: How did advocates for the minority group shed light on this injustice?

People around the country knew of Jack Kevorkian and still do today. People knew of him because he was a major story in the media, he even had a "60 Minutes" episode on him and was featured on the cover of time magazine. "By the late 90's everyone knew who Dr. death was"(Stanley). Everyone knew who he was and what he had done, everyone also had there options to weather his actions where right or wrong. Jack Kevorkian wouldn't have been as well known if it wasn't for the media.

STANLEY, ALESSANDRA. "A Doctor With a Prescription for Headlines ." //The New York//

//Times// [New York] 22 Apr. 2010: n. pag. //The New York Times//. Web. 30 Sept. 2011. .

__Paragraph 1:__ Analyze the impact of the literary or artistic work for the minority group and/or American society as a whole.
 * TASK III: **
 * I'm Free lyrics**

//[Tommy:]//

I'M FREE- I'm free,

And freedom tastes of reality,

I'm free-I'm free,

AN' I'm waiting for you to follow me.

If I told you what it takes

to reach the highest high,

You'd laugh and say 'nothing's that simple'

But you've been told many times before

Messiahs pointed to the door

And no one had the guts to leave the temple!

I'm free-I'm free

And freedom tastes of reality

I'm free-I'm free

And I'm waiting for you to follow me.

//[Chorus:]//

How can we follow?

How can we follow?

This song relates to my topic because the terminally ill people who choose to die ended there pain and suffering by killing themselves and becoming "free". Dr. Kevorkian was trying to help the people in pain that where already going to die get out of pain by ending there life. "Messiahs pointed to the door And no one had the guts to leave the temple!"(The Who). Messiah could be god or Dr.Kevorkian showing them the door to end there pain and leaving the temple would be leaving the sick persons body. The Who's song __I'm Free__ realities to the terminally ill person ending their suffering.

__Paragraph 2:__ CLOSING-- How did the event impact the debate on the argument? Should a dying person be able to kill them self’s with the help of another person ? Dr, Kevorkian said yes, he was the leading the pioneer in assisted suicide for the terminally ill. He thought that if a person was going to die from a terminally ill disease then they should get the right to decide wither or not they can end there life. A person is a living breathing thing with rights and restrictions that has the choice what to do with there lives. An outstanding product will. •showcase a work that expresses a profound idea about your event and the argument surrounding it •be the **best** example available, not simply the first one you find This song is a great choice to connect to this event. •demonstrate your ability to interpret the meaning of the literary or artistic piece You've made a good connection between the freedom expressed in the song and the freedom Dr. Kevorkian offered terminally ill individuals. •use the extended power paragraph format as a means to express your understanding of the event, argument, and how art literature and art can reveal emotions and ideas <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">Your good ideas can become obscured in format issues. Carefully follow the power paragraph format and be sure to have someone help with editing and polishing your work. <span style="color: #008080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">•reference sources accurately <span style="color: #008080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">•mechanics are clean and effective
 * <span style="color: #008080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 17px;">TASK III: Artistic Expression Element Rubric **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 10pt;">An outstanding time line entry includes the following: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 10pt;">• Opens by identifying you, the author, and your event with a banner headline (see an example of a banner on the top of this page). <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 10pt;">• Under the banner, in the table place two graphics or photos that illustrates an important aspect of the event. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">• Thoughtful responses to each prompt are supported by credible sources representing diverse perspectives on the event. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">• Each response should be posted in order (follow template instructions), contain few mechanic errors and follow the power paragraph format. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;"> • The credibility of each cited source is established and internal citations accurately match the Works Cited.• TASK I and TASK II each introduce and cite two new sources; TASK III cites one new source.• The Works Cited lists 5 credible sources from the LC databases.
 * Rubric for the Time Line Page **

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;">http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.nndb.com/people/272/000023203/kevorkian-mug.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.nndb.com/people/272/000023203/&usg=__rbi9BJW9ESn5npaMWWPy5qO0LT0=&h=268&w=207&sz=15&hl=en&start=7&zoom=1&tbnid=Z6QiVmut7vrBpM:&tbnh=113&tbnw=87&ei=nWl3TqrGE42Wtwf37rCeCw&prev=/search%3Fq%3DJack%2BKervorkian%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Den%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1