Life and Death and Choice

I can’t believe that eight years have passed since Jack (“Dr. Death”) Kevorkian was sent to jail for his role in assisted suicide. The fact that he helped people with incurable illnesses who decided for themselves that their quality of life was unbearable but who, because of their afflictions, were unable to take their own lives is irrelevant to his critics and to (it should be noted) the law. I find it ironic that there are many people here and abroad who are involuntarily losing their lives every day – to famine, war, terrorism, illness and other forms of natural and man-made violence – and yet the law has marshaled its forces against an irascible old man who worked with those who freely made their choices.