The Paintings of Dr. Jack Kevorkian

[Anonymouse]

I was surfing the web and I came upon a discussion of suicide, and the meaning of life. The question was posed, why do we not have the choice to die? Legally speaking, we cannot. Philosophically, the question is open to discussion.

As I came across the PBS website, I found some of the art work of Dr. Kevorkian. I thought it was really interesting art work, despite some of my own qualms with his style. I mean really interesting, at least to me. Now I don't know whether the descriptions on the side are his words or not, but they are nonetheless good compliments to the pieces. Observe.











For the descriptions you can access the website here.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kevorkian/aboutk/art/brotherhood.html

The reason I posted this in the intellectual lounge is because its open for discussion, both the idea of death and suicide, as well as the art work. We already know he is Armenian, yada, yada, yada.

[spiral]

The reason I posted this in the intellectual lounge is because its open for discussion, both the idea of death and suicide, as well as the art work. We already know he is Armenian, yada, yada, yada.

As far as death goes, I’d suggest reading The Idiot. Dostoevsky does such an amazing job describing the state-of-mind of a man who is to be executed.

As for Kevorkian, if people wanted to die so badly, they could have done it themselves. No need for assistance.

[Stark Evade]

That artwork is terrible.

I was surfing the web and I came upon a discussion of suicide, and the meaning of life. The question was posed, why do we not have the choice to die? Legally speaking, we cannot. Philosophically, the question is open to discussion.

As I came across the PBS website, I found some of the art work of Dr. Kevorkian. I thought it was really interesting art work, despite some of my own qualms with his style. I mean really interesting, at least to me. Now I don't know whether the descriptions on the side are his words or not, but they are nonetheless good compliments to the pieces. Observe.











For the descriptions you can access the website here.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kevorkian/aboutk/art/brotherhood.html

The reason I posted this in the intellectual lounge is because its open for discussion, both the idea of death and suicide, as well as the art work. We already know he is Armenian, yada, yada, yada.

[Stark Evade]

I don't have a problem with suicide or assisted suicide and any one who does is visually unpleasant.

[Lamb Boy]

Freaky stuff...

Is there a gallery for his art?

Someone stated "why don't the sick ppl just kill themselves?" ... if I'm not mistaken some are incapable due to their condition thus the whole assisted part of the equation. He makes it so all they have to do is push a button.
Dr.K shouldn't be so persecuted, period. In his court appearances he often made such a sound argument that he would often confound the prosecution.

They were like

Anyway it's a stupid moral law for a consensual crime

Having said that his artwork is a tad disturbing given his affinity towards ... uhh death and all.

[TomServo]

Dr. Kevorkian rules. Barbara Kopple is doing a documentary on him.

[Nomac]

Re: The Paintings of Dr. Jack Kevorkian

Nice art. terrible thing, but looks well

[Haykakan]

Re: The Paintings of Dr. Jack Kevorkian

I think making Kevorkian the vampire in the first painting is totally misleading and makes it seem like Kevorkian is doing it to gain something from the dying. Assisted suicide for the terminally ill who are of sound mind is in my opinion a valuable service to humanity. This service reduces the suffering of the dying person and his/her family. If done right such a service can also provide much needed organs for others. I question the morals of the people who stopped Kevorkian not the other way around.

[Ambear]

Re: The Paintings of Dr. Jack Kevorkian

I think making Kevorkian the vampire in the first painting is totally misleading and makes it seem like Kevorkian is doing it to gain something from the dying. Assisted suicide for the terminally ill who are of sound mind is in my opinion a valuable service to humanity. This service reduces the suffering of the dying person and his/her family. If done right such a service can also provide much needed organs for others. I question the morals of the people who stopped Kevorkian not the other way around.

The painting is done by Doctor Kevorkian but is not him. I'm not sure if this is true but I read that the individual in the center is supposed to be Satan. I never knew he was such a wonderful artist though until I found these pieces while researching for my Senior Thesis class. He has such great attention detail and color in his work and he has an amazing understanding if muscle and body shape.

As to the issue I believe that physician assisted suicide should be legal. The argument that they patient could just refuse medical treatment or kill themselves is just bogus. The whole point of physician assisted suicide is that it is a dignified and painless way for the patient to die when they are suffering a great deal. To just refuse medical treatment would make their death so much more unbearable and just cause more suffering. As to just killing themselves this could be very dangerous since a lot of people would not have access to an effective and painless way to do so or do not have sufficient knowledge to do it without pain or permanently. There are a lot of suicides that fail because they tried overdosing and failed or the gunshot failed to kill them. There are also a lot of medications and chemicals people try to take that just destroy their body and cause immense pain before taking the individual's life. The physicians have the means and the knowledge to help a person go peacfuly and without pain. I don't see why if a person is suffering and has little to no chance of getting better they cannot choose a more humane alternative.

[Tali]

Re: The Paintings of Dr. Jack Kevorkian

I think I'm going to have nightmares over those pictures...
Though, as art pieces, they're quite exceptional.


It's the "what if" scenarios that make many people hesitant to physician assisted suicide. Frankly put, fear. Fear regarding the stories of people who were diagnosed "vegetable" but were able to "hear" yet couldn't speak and thus were killed without a say in the matter. There's also the fear of the "last moment;" where patients convince doctor that no matter what they say once the injection (typically) is made, not to believe them when they have a 'change of heart.' There's also the fear of organ donation abuse. I forgot the name of the book but it was about a surgeon who made a lot of money killing patients in operating room 8 then selling their organs on the black market via use of carbon monoxide poisoning (which, you may know, turns the blood a cherry red while patient is slowly dying but untraceable - typically giving after a whiff of chlorophyll, or another type of anesthesia, to 'knock them out' so they don't feel the pain.

Fear of making a definitive mistake - can't bring the person back to life. These arguments also have some similarities to arguments regarding the death penalty. Thanks to advancements in science, we are better able to more definitively determine the truth but ultimately the decision is still left to the jury - a group of your 'average' people. There have been many raised alarms that some people have been sentenced to death despite being innocent.

However, I still say physician assisted suicide should be made legal. The likelihood of the described scenarios are slim - though each has occurred.