Physician Assisted Suide

28 Pages 6902 Words

. Kevorkian assisted into death, as previously mentioned. The 54-year-old woman, from Portland, Oregon, who was a former college instructor, decided to commit suicide the day she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (1997). Adkins contacted Kevorkian after hearing about his suicide machine' and asked for his help in assisting her into death, according to Kathlyn Gay. After hearing Adkins describe her illness, Kevorkian refused to help the patient and suggested that she try experimental drug treatments. After six months had gone by Adkins informed Dr. Kevorkian that the drug treatment had been unsuccessful and Kevorkian finally agreed to help with her request (44-45).
Adkins and her husband flew to Royal Oak, Mich., on June 3, 1990, for an interview with Kevorkian. On the basis of that one face-to-face encounter, the doctor concluded that Adkins' euthanasia request was rational. The following day, as her husband waited in a nearby motel, Adkins was hooked up intravenously to an inverted bottle of saline solution hanging from a metal frame in...