Crusader of Assisted-Suicide, Dr Kevorkian’s Papers Made Public

University of Michigan library has made assisted-suicide crusader, Dr Jack Kevorkian’s work public.

A 1993 drawing of Dr Jack Kevorkian, drawn by supporter Rachel Reed, at the Bentley library. (Photo: AP)

A University of Michigan library announced on Tuesday that it has acquired the papers of Dr Jack Kevorkian, a renowned advocate of assisted-suicide.

Dr Jack Kevorkian known as Dr Death. (Photo: AP)

The Bentley Historical Library in Ann Arbor is making them publicly available as part of an effort to help people better understand the assisted-suicide advocate and his role in the right-to-die debate.

Long before Jack Kevorkian was known as ‘Dr. Death,’ he was a child of Armenian immigrants, a successful student, a graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School, a musician, composer and scientist. The release of his papers will allow scholars and students to understand the context of and driving forces in an interesting and provocative life.
— Terrence McDonald, Director of Bentley Historical Library

The library said Ava Janus, Kevorkian’s niece and sole heir, donated the collection, which spans from 1911 to 2014.

We felt very strongly that by not providing access to this collection and to the medicide files, we would be choosing to hide a very important story.
— Olga Virakhovskaya, Bentley’s Lead Archivist

Kevorkian, a graduate of the University of Michigan’s Medical School, died in 2011 in suburban Detroit at age 83.

Many of the medicide patients and their families — who remain very close to this day — are still advocates of their family member’s choice to die, so anonymity was not an issue.
— Olga Virakhovskaya, Bentley’s Lead Archivist

He sparked the national right-to-die debate with a homemade suicide machine that helped end the lives of about 130 ailing people, using the term “medicide” to describe physician-assisted suicide.

Kevorkian was convicted of second-degree murder in 1999 for assisting in the 1998 death of a Michigan man with Lou Gehrig’s disease. He was released from prison in 2007.

A January 1946 cap and gown photo of Dr. Jack Kevorkian at the Bentley library. (Photo: AP)

The collection includes correspondence and manuscript drafts as well as files on assisted suicides, including medical histories, photographs, video and audio.

The collection also includes published works, photographs, court records, news coverage and interviews.

The assisted-suicide files, which involve cases between 1990 and 1998, include medical histories, photographs, and video and audio recordings of consultations with patients.

(With inputs from AP.)