View source for Jack Kevorkian

{{Short description|American pathologist and euthanasia activist (1928–2011)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox medical person
|name              = Jack Kevorkian
|image             = Jack Kevorkian National Press Club.jpg
|caption           = Kevorkian in 1996
|birth_name        = Murad Jacob Kevorkian<ref name=Schneider/>
|birth_date        = {{birth date|1928|5|26|mf=y}}
|birth_place       = [[Pontiac, Michigan]], U.S.
|death_date        = {{death date and age|2011|6|3|1928|5|26|mf=y}}
|death_place       = [[Royal Oak, Michigan]], U.S.
|years_active      = 1952–2011
|education         = [[University of Michigan]] ([[Doctor of Medicine|MD]])
|occupation        = Pathologist
|specialism        = Euthanasia medicine
|work_institutions = {{unbulleted list|[[Henry Ford Hospital]]|[[Michigan Medicine]]}}
}}
'''Murad Jacob''' '''Kevorkian''' (May 26, 1928&nbsp;– June 3, 2011) was an American [[pathologist]] and [[euthanasia]] proponent. He publicly championed a terminal patient's [[right to die]] by [[physician-assisted suicide]], embodied in his quote, "Dying is not a crime".<ref name="wells">{{Cite book| title=Introducing Christian Ethics| first1=Samuel| last1=Wells| first2=Ben| last2=Quash| page=[https://archive.org/details/introducingchris0000well/page/329 329]| publisher=John Wiley and Sons| year=2010| isbn=978-1-4051-5276-1| url=https://archive.org/details/introducingchris0000well/page/329}}</ref> Kevorkian said that he assisted at least 130 patients to that end. He was convicted of murder in 1999 and was often portrayed in the media with the name of "'''Dr. Death'''".<ref>{{cite journal | pmc = 2351178 | pmid=8664610 | volume=312 | issue=7044 | title=Jack Kevorkian: a medical hero | author=Roberts J, Kjellstrand C | journal=BMJ | page=1434 | date=June 8, 1996 | doi=10.1136/bmj.312.7044.1434}}</ref>

Kevorkian was tried four times for assisting suicides between 1994 and 1997, being acquitted the first three times and the fourth ending in a mistrial. In 1998, Kevorkian was arrested and tried for murder after broadcasting the [[voluntary euthanasia]] of a man named Thomas Youk who had Lou Gehrig's disease, or [[Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis|ALS]]. He was convicted of [[Murder in United States law|second-degree murder]] and served eight years of a 10-to-25-year prison sentence. He was released on parole on June 1, 2007, on condition he would not offer advice about, participate in, or be present at the act of any type of euthanasia to any other person, nor that he promote or talk about the procedure of assisted suicide.<ref name="davey">Monica Davey. [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/04/us/04kevorkian.html "Kevorkian Speaks After His Release From Prison"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240904040456/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/04/us/04kevorkian.html |date=September 4, 2024 }}. ''[[The New York Times]]''. June 4, 2007.</ref>

==Early life and education==
Murad Jacob Kevorkian ({{langx|hy|Մուրատ Յակոբ Գէորգեան}}) was born in [[Pontiac, Michigan]], on May 26, 1928,<ref name=Schneider>{{cite news| last=Schneider| first=Keith| title=Dr. Jack Kevorkian Dies at 83; A Doctor Who Helped End Lives| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/04/us/04kevorkian.html| newspaper=[[The New York Times]]| date=June 3, 2011| access-date=February 16, 2017| archive-date=June 12, 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612213535/https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/04/us/04kevorkian.html| url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="medicalnewstoday">{{cite web|url=http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/227470.php|title=Jacob 'Jack' Kevorkian Dies; Death With Dignity Proponent Remembered|date=June 4, 2011|access-date=November 10, 2011|archive-date=June 12, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612162751/https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/227470.php|url-status=live}}</ref> to [[Armenians|Armenian]] immigrants from the [[Ottoman Empire]], in what is now [[Turkey]]. His father, Levon (1891–1960), was born in the village of [[Pasinler, Erzurum|Passen]], near [[Erzurum]], and his mother, Satenig (1900–1968), was born in the village of Govdun, near [[Sivas]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/b/bhlead/umich-bhl-2014106?byte=158650410;focusrgn=bioghist;subview=standard;view=reslist|title=BHL: Jack Kevorkian papers|access-date=July 22, 2020|archive-date=December 12, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211212162108/https://quod.lib.umich.edu/b/bhlead/umich-bhl-2014106?byte=158650410;focusrgn=bioghist;subview=standard;view=reslist|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Kevorkian, Jack 2009">{{cite book| title=glimmerIQs| author=Kevorkian, Jack| publisher=World Audience, Inc.| type=Paperback| year=2009| isbn=978-1-935444-88-6}}</ref> His father left Ottoman Armenia and made his way to Pontiac in 1912, where he found work at an automobile foundry. Satenig fled the [[Armenian genocide]] of 1915, finding refuge with relatives in Paris and eventually reuniting with her brother in Pontiac. Levon and Satenig met through the Armenian community in their city, where they married and began their family. The couple had a daughter, Margaret, in 1926, followed by son Murad, and their third and last child, Flora.<ref name="papers">{{cite web| url=http://thekevorkianpapers.com/about/biography| title=Biography| author=Kevorkian, Jack| publisher=www.thekevorkianpapers.com/| date=December 15, 2010| access-date=January 19, 2011| archive-date=July 17, 2011| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717005107/http://thekevorkianpapers.com/about/biography| url-status=dead}}</ref> <!-- supported in all 3 following citations-->

When Kevorkian was a child, his parents took him to an Orthodox church weekly.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-12-06-vw-3171-story.html#:~:text=Jack%20Kevorkian%20grew%20up%20in,Armenian%20Orthodox%2C%20was%20deeply%20religious|title=Suicide's Partner : Is Jack Kevorkian an angel of mercy, or is he a killer, as some critics charge? 'Society is making me Dr. Death,' he says. 'Why can't they see? I'm Dr. Life!'|work=Los Angeles Times|date=December 6, 1992|last=Warrick|first=Pamela|access-date=January 28, 2022|archive-date=January 5, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230105160846/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-12-06-vw-3171-story.html#:~:text=Jack%20Kevorkian%20grew%20up%20in,Armenian%20Orthodox%2C%20was%20deeply%20religious|url-status=live}}</ref> He started questioning the existence of a God, as he believed an all-knowing God would have prevented the Armenian genocide on his extended family. He stopped attending church by the time he was 12.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.biography.com/.amp/scientist/jack-kevorkian | title=Jack Kevorkian &#124; Biography | date=May 20, 2021 | access-date=August 21, 2022 | archive-date=January 5, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230105160813/https://www.biography.com/.amp/scientist/jack-kevorkian | url-status=dead }}</ref>

Kevorkian was a [[child prodigy]], teaching himself multiple languages (including German, Russian, Greek, and Japanese).<ref>{{Cite news|url = https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-13649381|title = Jack Kevorkian: How he made controversial history|work = BBC News|date = June 3, 2011|access-date = July 22, 2020|archive-date = December 12, 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211212162109/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-13649381|url-status = live}}</ref> As such, he was often alienated by his peers.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.scribd.com/book/235004358/Between-the-Dying-and-the-Dead-Dr-Jack-Kevorkian-the-Assisted-Suicide-Machine-and-the-Battle-to-Legalise-Euthanasia|title=Read Between the Dying and the Dead Online by Neal Nicol and Harry L. Wylie &#124; Books|access-date=July 22, 2020|archive-date=December 12, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211212162108/https://www.scribd.com/book/235004358/Between-the-Dying-and-the-Dead-Dr-Jack-Kevorkian-the-Assisted-Suicide-Machine-and-the-Battle-to-Legalise-Euthanasia|url-status=live}}</ref> Kevorkian graduated from [[Pontiac Central High School]] with honors in 1945, at the age of 17. In 1952, he graduated from the [[University of Michigan Health System|University of Michigan Medical School]] in [[Ann Arbor]].<ref name="Frontline_chronology"/><ref name="chermak">{{cite book| last=Chermak| first=Steven M.|author2=Bailey, Frankie Y. |title=Crimes and Trials of the Century| url=https://archive.org/details/crimestrialscent00bail| url-access=limited| publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group| year=2007| pages=[https://archive.org/details/crimestrialscent00bail/page/n116 101]–102| isbn=978-0-313-34110-6 }}</ref><ref name="movhi1">{{cite book| last=Azadian| first=Edmond Y.| author2=Hacikyan, Agop J.| author3=Franchuk, Edward S.| title=History on the move: views, interviews and essays on Armenian issues| work=An Interview with Dr. Jack Kevorkian| publisher=Wayne State University Press| year=1999| location=Detroit| page=233| isbn=0-8143-2916-0| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KGciVUhpzXUC&pg=PA233| access-date=September 2, 2020| archive-date=September 4, 2024| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240904040426/https://books.google.com/books?id=KGciVUhpzXUC&pg=PA233#v=onepage&q&f=false| url-status=live}}</ref>

Kevorkian completed residency training in anatomical and clinical pathology and briefly conducted research on blood transfusion.<ref name="bio">{{cite web| title=Jack Kevorkian Biography| publisher=Biography.com| url=http://www.biography.com/people/jack-kevorkian-9364141?page=1| year=2012| access-date=February 13, 2012| archive-date=October 28, 2012| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121028230225/http://www.biography.com/people/jack-kevorkian-9364141?page=1| url-status=live}}</ref>

==Career==
[[File:KevorkianUCLARoyce.jpg|thumb|Kevorkian in 2011]]
Over a period of decades, Kevorkian developed several controversial ideas related to death. In a 1959 journal article, he wrote:

{{Blockquote|I propose that a prisoner condemned to death by due process of law be allowed to submit, by his own free choice, to medical experimentation under complete anaesthesia (at the time appointed for administering the penalty) as a form of execution in lieu of conventional methods prescribed by law.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kevorkian |first=Jack |title=Capital Punishment or Capital Gain |journal=The Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science |date=May–June 1959 |volume=50 |issue=1| pages=50–51}}</ref>}}

Senior doctors at the University of Michigan, Kevorkian's employer, opposed his proposal, and Kevorkian chose to leave the university rather than stop advocating his ideas. Ultimately, he gained little support for his plan. He returned to the idea of using death-row inmates for medical purposes after the Supreme Court's 1976 decision in ''[[Gregg v. Georgia]]'' reinstituted the [[Capital punishment in the United States|death penalty]]. He advocated harvesting the organs from inmates after the death penalty was carried out for transplant into sick patients, but he failed to gain the cooperation of prison officials.<ref name=betzold>{{cite news|last=Betzold |first=Michael |title=1993: Excerpt from 'Appointment with Doctor Death' |url=http://www.freep.com/article/20070527/NEWS05/70525033 |access-date=April 29, 2012 |newspaper=Detroit Free Press |date=September 19, 1993 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108061240/http://www.freep.com/article/20070527/NEWS05/70525033 |archive-date=November 8, 2012 }}</ref>

As a [[Pathology|pathologist]] at Pontiac General Hospital, Kevorkian experimented with transfusing blood from the recently deceased into live patients. He drew blood from corpses recently brought into the hospital and transferred it successfully into the bodies of hospital staff members. Kevorkian thought that the U.S. military might be interested in using this technique to help wounded soldiers during a battle, but the Pentagon was not interested.<ref name=betzold/>

In the 1980s, Kevorkian wrote a series of articles for the German journal ''Medicine and Law'' that laid out his thinking on the ethics of [[euthanasia]].<ref name="Frontline_chronology"/><ref name="Lessenberry1994">{{cite magazine|title=Death becomes him|author=Lessenberry, Jack |date=July 1994 |magazine=Vanity Fair |via=PBS.org |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kevorkian/aboutk/vanityfair.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030806015344/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kevorkian/aboutk/vanityfair.html |archive-date=August 6, 2003 |access-date=July 11, 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1987, Kevorkian started advertising in Detroit newspapers as a physician consultant for "death counseling". His first public assisted suicide, of Janet Adkins, a 54-year-old woman diagnosed in 1989 with [[Alzheimer's disease]], took place in 1990. Charges of murder were dropped on December 13, 1990, as there were, at that time, no laws in Michigan regarding assisted suicide.<ref name="ascension">{{cite web |title=People v. Kevorkian; Hobbins v. Attorney General |publisher=Ascension Health |year=1994 |access-date=May 13, 2011 |url=http://www.ascensionhealth.org/ethics/public/cases/case19.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030908034403/http://www.ascensionhealth.org/ethics/public/cases/case19.asp |archive-date=September 8, 2003}}</ref> In 1991, however, the State of Michigan revoked Kevorkian's [[medical license]] and made it clear that, given his actions, he was no longer permitted to practice medicine or to work with patients.<ref name="APRevoked">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SZczAAAAIBAJ&pg=5151%2C2383816 |title=Kevorkian medical license revoked |work=[[Lodi News-Sentinel]] |location=Michigan |page=8 |agency=Associated Press |date=November 21, 1991 |access-date=April 26, 2022 |archive-date=April 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220426002211/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SZczAAAAIBAJ&pg=5151,2383816 |url-status=live }}</ref> His California medical license was suspended in April 1993 by an [[administrative law judge]], with Kevorkian's attorney responding that Kevorkian "will go on assisting people commit suicide. He dares that California judge to come catch him".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-04-28-mn-28193-story.html|title=State Suspends Kevorkian's Medical License|first=Michael|last=Granberry|date=April 28, 1993|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=March 25, 2024|archive-date=May 29, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240529182315/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-04-28-mn-28193-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

According to his lawyer [[Geoffrey Fieger]], Kevorkian assisted in the deaths of 130 terminally ill people between 1990 and 1998. In each of these cases, the individuals themselves allegedly took the final action which resulted in their own deaths. Kevorkian allegedly assisted only by attaching the individual to a [[euthanasia device]] that he had devised and constructed. The individual then pushed a button which released the drugs or chemicals that would end their own life. Two deaths were assisted by means of a device which delivered the euthanizing drugs [[Intravenous therapy|intravenously]]. Kevorkian called the device a "[[Thanatron]]" ("Death machine", from the [[Greek language|Greek]] ''[[thanatos]]'' meaning "death").<ref name="thanatron">{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kevorkian/aboutk/thanatronblurb.html |title=The Kevorkian Verdict: The Thanatron |series=[[Frontline (U.S. TV series)|Frontline]] |work=[[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]] |date=May 1996 |access-date=February 13, 2012 |archive-date=July 28, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180728160518/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kevorkian/aboutk/thanatronblurb.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Other people were assisted by a device which employed a [[gas mask]] fed by a canister of [[carbon monoxide]], which Kevorkian called the "[[Mercitron]]" ("Mercy machine").<ref name="atlantic">{{cite web |title=Jack Kevorkian's Death Van and the Tech of Assisted Suicide |date=June 3, 2011 |first=Nicholas |last=Jackson |publisher=TheAtlantic.com |work=[[The Atlantic Monthly]] |access-date=February 13, 2012 |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/06/jack-kevorkians-death-van-and-the-tech-of-assisted-suicide/239897/ |archive-date=July 19, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719093856/http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/06/jack-kevorkians-death-van-and-the-tech-of-assisted-suicide/239897/ |url-status=live }}</ref> <!-- moved "this became necessary" claim to Talk -->

===Criticism and Kevorkian's response===
{{quote box
 |quote  = My aim in helping the patient was not to cause death. My aim was to end suffering. It's got to be decriminalized.
 |source =— Jack Kevorkian<ref name="Mednews">{{cite web |url=http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/227470.php |title=Jacob 'Jack' Kevorkian Dies; Death With Dignity Proponent Remembered |work=medicalnewstoday.com |year=2011 |access-date=November 10, 2011 |archive-date=June 12, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612162751/https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/227470.php |url-status=live }}</ref>
 |width  = 20%
 |align  = right
}}

According to a report by the ''[[Detroit Free Press]]'', 60% of the patients who died with Kevorkian's help were not terminally ill, and at least 13 had not complained of pain. The report further asserted that Kevorkian's counseling was too brief (with at least 19 patients dying less than 24 hours after first meeting Kevorkian) and lacked a psychiatric exam in at least 19 cases, 5 of which involved people with histories of depression, though Kevorkian was sometimes alerted that the patient was unhappy for reasons other than their medical condition. In 1992, Kevorkian himself wrote that it is always necessary to consult a psychiatrist when performing assisted suicides because a person's "mental state is [...] of paramount importance."<ref name="DFP1">Cheyfitz, Kirk (March 3, 1997). [http://www.freep.com/article/20070527/NEWS05/70525061/SUICIDE-MACHINE-PART-1 "Suicide Machine, Part 1: Kevorkian rushes to fulfill his clients' desire to die"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608173811/http://www.freep.com/article/20070527/NEWS05/70525061/SUICIDE-MACHINE-PART-1 |date=June 8, 2011 }}. ''[[Detroit Free Press]]''. Archived May 26, 2007.</ref> The report also stated that Kevorkian failed to refer at least 17 patients to a pain specialist after they complained of chronic pain and sometimes failed to obtain a complete medical record for his patients, with at least three autopsies of suicides Kevorkian had assisted with showing the person who committed suicide to have no physical sign of disease. Rebecca Badger, a patient of Kevorkian's and a mentally troubled drug abuser, had been mistakenly diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The report also stated that Janet Adkins, Kevorkian's first euthanasia patient, had been chosen without Kevorkian ever speaking to her, only with her husband, and that when Kevorkian first met Adkins two days before her assisted suicide he "made no real effort to discover whether Ms.&nbsp;Adkins wished to end her life," as the Michigan Court of Appeals put it in a 1995 ruling upholding an order against Kevorkian's activity.<ref name="DFP1"/> According to ''[[The Economist]]'': "Studies of those who sought out Dr. Kevorkian, however, suggest that though many had a worsening illness... it was not usually terminal. Autopsies showed five people had no disease at all... Little over a third were in pain. Some presumably suffered from no more than hypochondria or depression."<ref name="economist">{{cite news |url=https://www.economist.com/obituary/2011/06/09/jack-kevorkian |title=Jack Kevorkian, champion of voluntary euthanasia, died on June 3rd, aged 83 |newspaper=The Economist |date=June 9, 2011 |publisher=webCitation.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613030915/http://www.economist.com/node/18802492 |archive-date=June 13, 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In response, Kevorkian's attorney [[Geoffrey Fieger]] published an essay stating, "I've never met any doctor who lived by such exacting guidelines as Kevorkian... [H]e published them in an article for the ''American Journal of Forensic Psychiatry'' in 1992. Last year he got a committee of doctors, the Physicians of Mercy, to lay down new guidelines, which he scrupulously follows."<ref name="DFP1"/> However, Fieger stated that Kevorkian found it difficult to follow his "exacting guidelines" because of "persecution and prosecution", adding, "[H]e's proposed these guidelines saying this is what ought to be done. These are not to be done in times of war, and we're at war."<ref name="DFP1"/>

In a 2010 interview with [[Sanjay Gupta]], Kevorkian stated an objection to the status of assisted suicide in [[Oregon Death with Dignity Act|Oregon]], [[Washington Death with Dignity Act|Washington]], and [[Baxter v. Montana|Montana]]. At that time, only in those three states was assisted suicide legal in the United States, and then only for terminally ill patients. To Gupta, Kevorkian stated, "What difference does it make if someone is terminal? We are all terminal."<ref name="regrets">{{Cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/06/14/kevorkian.gupta/index.html|title=Kevorian: "I have no regrets"|publisher=CNN|date=June 14, 2010|access-date=June 4, 2011|archive-date=July 10, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100710122433/http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/06/14/kevorkian.gupta/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In his view, a patient had to be suffering but did not have to be terminally ill to be assisted in committing suicide. However, he also said in that same interview that he declined four out of every five assisted suicide requests, on the grounds that the patient needed more treatment or medical records had to be checked.<ref name="GuptaInterview">{{Cite news| url=http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/2011/06/03/bts.2010.gupta.kevorkian.cnn| title='Dr. Death's' view on life| publisher=CNN| date=June 14, 2010| access-date=June 4, 2011| archive-date=December 30, 2010| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101230111923/http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/2011/06/03/bts.2010.gupta.kevorkian.cnn| url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2011, [[disability rights]] and anti-legalization of assisted suicide and euthanasia group Not Dead Yet spoke out against Kevorkian, citing potentially concerning sentiments he expressed in his published writing.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://notdeadyet.org/2011/06/little-bit-about-real-jack-kevorkian-in.html|title=A little bit about the REAL Jack Kevorkian – In His Own Words|work=Not Dead Yet |date=June 7, 2011|access-date=June 10, 2016|archive-date=August 13, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160813064537/http://notdeadyet.org/2011/06/little-bit-about-real-jack-kevorkian-in.html|url-status=live}}</ref> On page 214 of ''Prescription: Medicide, the Goodness of Planned Death'', Kevorkian wrote that assisting "suffering or doomed persons [to] kill themselves" was "merely the first step, an early distasteful professional obligation... What I find most satisfying is the prospect of making possible the performance of invaluable experiments or other beneficial medical acts under conditions that this first unpleasant step can help establish{{snd}}in a [portmanteau] word obitiatry." In a journal article titled "The Last Fearsome Taboo: Medical Aspects of Planned Death", Kevorkian also detailed anesthetizing, experimenting on, and utilizing the organs of a disabled newborn as a token of "daring and highly imaginative research" that would be possible "beyond the constraints of traditional but outmoded, hopelessly inadequate, and essentially irrelevant ethical codes now sustained for the most part by vacuous sentimental reverence".

===Art and music===
[[File:Jack Kevorkian Organ Concert program.jpg|thumb|Concert program from Jack Kevorkian's 1996 concert]]
Kevorkian was a jazz musician and composer. ''[[A Very Still Life|The Kevorkian Suite: A Very Still Life]]'' was a 1997 limited-release CD of 5,000 copies from the 'Lucid Subjazz' label. It features Kevorkian on the flute and organ playing his own works with "The Morpheus Quintet". It was reviewed in ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' online as "weird" but "good-natured".<ref name="Essex">Essex, Andrew (December 26, 1997). [https://ew.com/article/1997/12/26/dr-death-has-killer-grooves/ "Death Mettle"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220815200244/https://ew.com/article/1997/12/26/dr-death-has-killer-grooves/ |date=August 15, 2022 }} . ''Entertainment Weekly''.</ref> As of 1997, 1,400 units had been sold.<ref name="Essex"/> Kevorkian wrote all the songs but one; the album was reviewed in ''jazzreview.com'' as "very much grooviness" except for one tune, with "stuff in between that's worthy of multiple spins".<ref name="jazz">[http://www.jazzreview.com/cdreview.cfm?ID=1681 "Featured Artist: Jack Kevorkian and Morpheus Quintet – CD Title: A Very Still Life"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101220011218/http://www.jazzreview.com/cdreview.cfm?ID=1681 |date=December 20, 2010 }}. JazzReview.com.</ref>

He was also an oil painter. His work tended toward the grotesque and surreal, and he had created pieces of symbolic art, such as one "of a child eating the flesh off a decomposing corpse".<ref name="Lessenberry1994"/> Of his known works, six were made available in the 1990s for print release. The Ariana Gallery in [[Royal Oak, Michigan]], is the exclusive distributor of Kevorkian's artwork. The original oil prints are not for release.<ref name="ArianaPR">{{cite press release| title=The Kevorkian Verdict: The Ariana Gallery| url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kevorkian/aboutk/art/gallerypress.html| series=[[Frontline (U.S. TV series)|Frontline]]| work=[[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]]| date=May 1996| access-date=February 13, 2012| archive-date=March 13, 2012| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120313025722/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kevorkian/aboutk/art/gallerypress.html| url-status=live}}</ref> [[Sludge metal]] band [[Acid Bath]] used his painting "For He is Raised" as the cover art for their 1996 album ''[[Paegan Terrorism Tactics]]''.<ref name="brave">{{cite web|url=http://www.bravewords.com/news/144225 |title=Acid Bath – Paegan Terrorism Tactics Remastered, Reissued |date=August 10, 2010 |work=[[Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles|Brave Words]] |access-date=June 4, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108061239/http://www.bravewords.com/news/144225 |archive-date=November 8, 2012 }}</ref>

In 2011, his paintings became the center of a legal entanglement between his sole heir and the [[Armenian Library and Museum of America]].<ref name="estate">{{cite web| title=Kevorkian Estate To Auction Disputed Paintings| url=http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/Kevorkian-Estate-To-Auction-Disputed-Paintings/-/1719418/4187052/-/o47683z/-/index.html| publisher=ClickonDetroit.com| work=[[WDIV-TV]]| date=November 2, 2011| access-date=February 13, 2012| archive-date=January 30, 2012| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120130105333/http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/Kevorkian-Estate-To-Auction-Disputed-Paintings/-/1719418/4187052/-/o47683z/-/index.html| url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Trials, conviction, and imprisonment==
{{Euthanasia}}

Kevorkian was tried four times for assisting suicides between May 1994 and June 1997. With the assistance of Fieger, Kevorkian was acquitted three times. The fourth trial ended in a [[mistrial (law)|mistrial]].<ref name=Schneider/> The trials helped Kevorkian gain public support for his cause. After Oakland County prosecutor Richard Thompson lost a primary election to a Republican challenger,<ref name="maine">{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=HyYgAAAAIBAJ&pg=5003,11529| title=Prosecutor has last shot at Dr. Death| location=Lewiston Maine| newspaper=[[Sun Journal (Lewiston)|Sun Journal]]| page=3A| date=November 1, 1996| access-date=April 24, 2020| archive-date=May 31, 2021| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210531054437/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=HyYgAAAAIBAJ&pg=5003,11529| url-status=live}}</ref> Thompson attributed the loss in part to the declining public support for the prosecution of Kevorkian and its associated legal expenses.<ref name="USA19960808">{{cite news| last=Davis| first=Robert| date=August 8, 1996| url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/USAToday/access/16341398.html?dids=16341398:16341398&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Aug+08%2C+1996&author=Ron+Franklin%3B+Tom+Curley%3B+Robert+Davis&pub=USA+TODAY+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=TWA+probe+could+turn+toward+wreckage+today| title=Assisted Suicide| work=USA Today| page=3A| access-date=August 3, 2010| quote=Thompson, the first Oakland County prosecutor in 24 years to lose an election, agreed that the controversy clearly was an issue in his defeat.| archive-date=June 24, 2012| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120624221338/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/USAToday/access/16341398.html?dids=16341398:16341398&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Aug+08%2C+1996&author=Ron+Franklin%3B+Tom+Curley%3B+Robert+Davis&pub=USA+TODAY+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=TWA+probe+could+turn+toward+wreckage+today| url-status=dead}}</ref>

In the November 22, 1998, broadcast of [[CBS News]]' ''[[60 Minutes]]'', Kevorkian allowed the airing of a videotape he made on September 17, 1998, which depicted the [[voluntary euthanasia]] of Thomas Youk, 52, who was in the final stages of [[Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis|Lou Gehrig's disease]]. After Youk provided his fully [[informed consent]] (a sometimes complex legal determination made in this case by editorial consensus) on September 17, 1998, Kevorkian himself administered Thomas Youk a lethal injection. This was highly significant, as all of his earlier clients had reportedly completed the process themselves. During the videotape, Kevorkian dared the authorities to try to convict him or stop him from carrying out mercy killings. Youk's family described the lethal injection as humane, not murder.

On November 25, 1998, Kevorkian was charged with first-degree murder and the delivery of a [[controlled substance]] (administering the lethal injection to Thomas Youk).<ref name="Frontline_chronology">{{cite episode| url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kevorkian/chronology.html| title=The Kevorian Verdict: A Chronology| series=[[Frontline (U.S. TV series)|Frontline]]| work=[[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]]| date=May 1996| access-date=February 13, 2012| archive-date=June 20, 2021| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210620161833/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kevorkian/chronology.html| url-status=live}}</ref> Because Kevorkian's [[medical license|license to practice medicine]] had been revoked eight years previously, he was not legally allowed to possess the controlled substance.

On March 26, 1999, a jury began deliberations in the first-degree murder trial of Kevorkian.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Claiborne |first1=William |title=Kevorkian, Arguing Own Defense, Asks Jury to Disregard Law |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1999/03/26/kevorkian-arguing-own-defense-asks-jury-to-disregard-law/df142079-a9b1-4182-adad-0d7789250f29/ |access-date=March 26, 2021 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=March 26, 1999 |archive-date=October 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231010133914/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1999/03/26/kevorkian-arguing-own-defense-asks-jury-to-disregard-law/df142079-a9b1-4182-adad-0d7789250f29/ |url-status=live }}</ref> He had discharged his attorneys and proceeded through the trial [[pro se|representing himself]], a decision he later regretted.<ref name=Schneider/> The judge ordered a criminal defense attorney to remain available at trial as [[standby counsel]] for information and advice. Inexperienced in law but persisting in his efforts to represent himself, Kevorkian encountered great difficulty in presenting his evidence and arguments. He was not able to call any witnesses to the stand as the judge did not deem the testimony of any of his witnesses relevant.<ref name="Ucolo">{{cite web| publisher=71 U. Colo. L. Rev.| page=789| title=Pro Se Criminal Defendant, Standby Counsel, and the Judge: A Proposal for Better-Defined Roles, The| author=Williams, Marie Higgins| url=http://heinonlinebackup.com/hol-cgi-bin/get_pdf.cgi?handle=hein.journals/ucollr71&section=34| year=2000| access-date=April 30, 2010| archive-date=July 11, 2011| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711161636/http://heinonlinebackup.com/hol-cgi-bin/get_pdf.cgi?handle=hein.journals/ucollr71&section=34| url-status=live}}</ref>

After a two-day trial, the Michigan jury found Kevorkian guilty of second-degree homicide.<ref name=Schneider/> Judge Jessica Cooper sentenced Kevorkian to serve 10–25 years in prison and told him:

{{blockquote|This is a court of law and you said you invited yourself here to take a final stand. But this trial was not an opportunity for a referendum. The law prohibiting euthanasia was specifically reviewed and clarified by the Michigan Supreme Court several years ago in a decision involving your very own cases, sir. So the charge here should come as no surprise to you. You invited yourself to the wrong forum. Well, we are a nation of laws, and we are a nation that tolerates differences of opinion because we have a civilized and a nonviolent way of resolving our conflicts that weighs the law and adheres to the law. We have the means and the methods to protest the laws with which we disagree. You can criticize the law, you can write or lecture about the law, you can speak to the media or petition the voters.}}

Kevorkian was sent to [[Lakeland Correctional Facility]] in [[Coldwater, Michigan]], to serve his sentence.<ref name="NYTstatement">{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/14/us/statement-from-judge-to-kevorkian.html| title=Statement from Judge to Kevorkian| author=Jessica Cooper| work=The New York Times| date=April 14, 1999| access-date=February 16, 2017| archive-date=May 24, 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170524081833/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/14/us/statement-from-judge-to-kevorkian.html| url-status=live}}</ref> After his conviction (and subsequent losses on appeal), Kevorkian was denied parole until 2007.<ref name="Detnews">{{cite news|last=Egan|first=Paul|date=December 14, 2006| url=http://detnews.com/article/20061214/METRO/612140443/After-8-years--Kevorkian-to-go-free| archive-url=https://archive.today/20100804124141/http://detnews.com/article/20061214/METRO/612140443/After-8-years--Kevorkian-to-go-free| url-status=dead| archive-date=August 4, 2010| title=After 8 years, Kevorkian to go free| work=[[The Detroit News]]| publisher=Detnews.com| access-date=February 13, 2012}}</ref>

In an [[MSNBC]] interview aired on September 29, 2005, Kevorkian said that if he were granted parole, he would not resume directly helping people die and would restrict himself to campaigning to have the law changed. On December 22, 2005, Kevorkian was denied parole by a board on the count of 7–2 recommending not to give parole.<ref name="cosby">{{cite web| url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna9532036| author=Rita Cosby| date=September 29, 2005| work=NBC News| title='Dr. Death' speaks out from jail| access-date=August 3, 2024| archive-date=September 28, 2023| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928231854/https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna9532036| url-status=live}}</ref>

Reportedly [[terminal illness|terminally ill]] with [[Hepatitis C]], which he contracted in the 1960s, Kevorkian was expected to die within a year in May 2006.<ref name="DFP" /> After applying for a pardon, parole, or commutation by the parole board and Governor [[Jennifer Granholm]], he was paroled for good behavior on June 1, 2007. He had spent eight years and two and a half months in prison.<ref name="CBSCongress">{{cite news| url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jack-kevorkian-plans-run-for-congress/| date=March 12, 2008| title=Jack Kevorkian Plans Run For Congress| work=CBS News| publisher=cbsnews.com| agency=AP| access-date=August 29, 2024| archive-date=December 22, 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222055258/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jack-kevorkian-plans-run-for-congress/| url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="setrakian">{{cite web| url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/LegalCenter/story?id=2008364&page=1| title=Dying 'Dr. Death' Has Second Thoughts About Assisting Suicides| work=ABC News| publisher=| date=June 1, 2007| author=Lara Setrakian| access-date=June 16, 2009| archive-date=December 8, 2010| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101208033856/http://abcnews.go.com/US/LegalCenter/story?id=2008364&page=1| url-status=live}}</ref>

Kevorkian was on parole for two years, under the conditions that he would not help anyone else die, or provide care for anyone older than 62 or disabled.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/18974940| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306151937/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/18974940| url-status=dead| archive-date=March 6, 2016| title=Kevorkian released from prison after 8 years|publisher=NBC News| work=| date=June 1, 2007| access-date=June 16, 2009}}</ref> Kevorkian said he would abstain from assisting any more terminal patients with death, and his role in the matter would strictly be to persuade states to change their laws on assisted suicide. He was also forbidden by the rules of his parole from commenting about assisted suicide procedure.<ref name="
attack">{{cite news| url=http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/02/kevorkian_criticizes_attack_on.html|title=Kevorkian criticizes attack on right-to-die group| work=mlive.com| publisher=Michigan Live| date=February 27, 2009| agency=AP}}</ref><ref name="fourarrests">{{cite news| url=http://articles.cnn.com/2009-02-26/justice/assisted.suicide.probe_1_gbi-final-exit-network-suicide| date=February 26, 2009| title=Four arrested in 2 states in assisted-suicide probe|  publisher=CNN| access-date=February 13, 2012| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120330221622/http://articles.cnn.com/2009-02-26/justice/assisted.suicide.probe_1_gbi-final-exit-network-suicide| archive-date=March 30, 2012| df=mdy-all}}</ref>

==Activities after his release from prison==
[[File:RaffiJackMayer (cropped).JPG|thumb|left|Kevorkian (center) answering questions at the [[University of California, Los Angeles]] with his lawyer Mayer Morganroth (right) and the former [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Armenia)|Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs]] [[Raffi Hovannisian]] (left)]]

Kevorkian gave a number of lectures upon his release. He lectured at universities such as the [[University of Florida]],<ref name="gainesville">{{cite web|url=http://www.gainesville.com/article/20080116/NEWS/801160333|title=Kevorkian pushes for euthanasia|author=Stripling, Jack|work=[[Gainesville Sun]]|date=January 16, 2008|access-date=June 16, 2009|archive-date=April 26, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100426012953/http://www.gainesville.com/article/20080116/NEWS/801160333?|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Nova Southeastern University]],<ref name="sentinel">{{cite web|url=http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/slf-0205kevorkian,0,3444833.story |title=Jack Kevorkian unveils U.S. flag altered with swastika |author=Ba Tran, Andrew |date=February 5, 2009 |work=[[Sun-Sentinel]] |access-date=October 30, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090917172814/http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/slf-0205kevorkian%2C0%2C3444833.story |archive-date=September 17, 2009 }}</ref> and the [[University of California, Los Angeles]].<ref name="strutner">{{cite web| url=http://www.dailybruin.com/index.php/article/2011/01/righttodie_activist_dr_jack_kevorkian_will_share_his_ideology_of_death_and_story_of_life_during_royc| title=Right-to-die activist Dr. Jack Kevorkian will share his ideology of death and story of life during Royce Hall lecture| author=Strutner, Suzy| work=[[Daily Bruin]]| date=January 11, 2011| access-date=January 11, 2011| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606120146/http://www.dailybruin.com/index.php/article/2011/01/righttodie_activist_dr_jack_kevorkian_will_share_his_ideology_of_death_and_story_of_life_during_royc| archive-date=June 6, 2011| url-status=dead}}</ref> His lectures were not limited to the topic of euthanasia; he also discussed such topics as [[Tyrant|tyranny]], the [[criminal justice]] system, politics, the [[Ninth Amendment to the United States Constitution]] and [[Culture of Armenia|Armenian culture]]. He appeared on the [[Fox News Channel]]'s ''[[Your World with Neil Cavuto]]'' on September 2, 2009, to discuss [[Health care reform in the United States|health care reform]].

On April 15 and 16, 2010, Kevorkian appeared on [[CNN]]'s ''[[Anderson Cooper 360°]]''.<ref name="cooper">{{cite news| title=Video: Mr. Kevorkian on physician-assisted suicide| publisher=CNN| work=Anderson Cooper 360| date=April 15, 2010| format=Flash video| access-date=July 11, 2010| url=http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/15/video-dr-kevorkian-on-physician-assisted-suicide| archive-date=April 21, 2010| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100421090510/http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/15/video-dr-kevorkian-on-physician-assisted-suicide/| url-status=dead}}</ref> Cooper asked, "You are saying doctors play God all the time?" Kevorkian said: "Of course. Any time you interfere with a natural process, you are playing God."<ref name="playing">{{cite news| title=Mr. Kevorkian Responds to Question about Playing God| publisher=CNN| work=Anderson Cooper 360| date=April 16, 2010| format=Flash video| access-date=July 11, 2010| url=http://newsroom.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/16/dr-kevorkian-responds-to-question-about-playing-god| archive-date=April 23, 2010| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100423121041/http://newsroom.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/16/dr-kevorkian-responds-to-question-about-playing-god/| url-status=dead}}</ref>
Director [[Barry Levinson]] and actors [[Al Pacino]], [[Susan Sarandon]] and [[John Goodman]], who appeared in ''[[You Don't Know Jack (film)|You Don't Know Jack]]'', a film based on Kevorkian's life, were interviewed alongside Kevorkian. Kevorkian was again interviewed by Cavuto on ''Your World'' on April 19, 2010, regarding the movie and Kevorkian's [[world view]]. ''You Don't Know Jack'' premiered April 24, 2010, on [[HBO]].<ref name="hbo">{{cite web| url=http://www.hbo.com/movies/index.html#/movies/you-dont-know-jack/video/the-real-jack.html| title=You Don't Know Jack| format=Flash site| publisher=HBO| year=2010| access-date=July 11, 2010| archive-date=October 14, 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014005146/http://www.hbo.com/movies/index.html#/movies/you-dont-know-jack/video/the-real-jack.html| url-status=live}}</ref> The film premiered April 14 at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York City. Kevorkian walked the red carpet alongside [[Al Pacino]], who portrayed him in the film.<ref name="premiere">{{cite web|url=http://www.daylife.com/photo/00I27Tm44tatf |title=Premiere of ''You Don't Know Jack'' at Ziegfeld Theatre |format=Image gallery |publisher=Day Life.com (Getty Images) |date=April 14, 2010 |access-date=July 11, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100725052120/http://www.daylife.com/photo/00I27Tm44tatf |archive-date=July 25, 2010 }}</ref> Pacino received [[Emmy Award|Emmy]] and [[Golden Globe]] awards for his portrayal and personally thanked Kevorkian, who was in the audience, upon receiving both of these awards. Kevorkian stated that the film "brings tears to my eyes – and I lived through it".<ref name="krieger">{{cite web| url=http://www.lasisblog.com/2010/11/02/a-new-life-for-%E2%80%9Cdr-death%E2%80%9D/| title=A New Life for Dr. Death| author=Tara Krieger| date=November 2, 2010| access-date=February 13, 2012| archive-date=April 24, 2012| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120424015117/http://www.lasisblog.com/2010/11/02/a-new-life-for-%e2%80%9cdr-death%e2%80%9d/| url-status=live}}</ref>

===2008 congressional race===
{{See also|2008 United States House of Representatives elections in Michigan}}
On March 12, 2008, Kevorkian announced plans to run for [[United States Congress]] to represent [[Michigan's 9th congressional district]] as an independent against eight-term congressman [[Joe Knollenberg]] ([[Republican Party (United States)|R]]-[[Bloomfield Hills]]), former [[Michigan Lottery]] commissioner and [[Michigan Senate|state senator]] [[Gary Peters]] ([[Democratic Party (United States)|D]]-[[Bloomfield Township, Oakland County, Michigan|Bloomfield Township]]), Adam Goodman ([[Libertarian Party (United States)|L]]-[[Royal Oak, Michigan|Royal Oak]]) and [[Douglas Campbell (Michigan politician)|Douglas Campbell]] ([[Green Party (United States)|G]]-[[Ferndale, Michigan|Ferndale]]). The race had already garnered national attention due to Democrats targeting the historically Republican district based in Oakland County, which Knollenberg barely won in 2006 against a little-known opponent. The district would suffer some of the worst brunt of the [[Great Recession]] due to [[Automotive industry crisis of 2008–10|declines in Detroit's automotive industry]]. Upon Kevorkian's entry into the race, one analyst viewed him as a potential spoiler to Peters' candidacy.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna23597181|title=Kevorkian plans congressional run|date=March 13, 2008|work=msnbc.com|access-date=April 16, 2017|language=en|archive-date=October 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029214438/https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna23597181|url-status=live}}</ref>

Ultimately, Kevorkian received 8,987 votes (2.6% of the vote) in the election, in which Peters defeated the incumbent Knollenberg by a nine-percent margin.<ref name="state">{{cite web| url=http://miboecfr.nictusa.com/election/candlist/08GEN/08GEN_CL.HTM| title=Official Michigan General Candidate Listing| publisher=Michigan Department of State| date=November 25, 2008| access-date=May 9, 2019| archive-date=April 16, 2020| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200416041159/https://miboecfr.nictusa.com/election/candlist/08GEN/08GEN_CL.HTM| url-status=live}}</ref> Peters would eventually serve three terms in Congress before making a successful run for the United States Senate.

{{Election box begin | title=2008 General Election – Michigan's 9th Congressional District<ref>{{cite web | url=http://miboecfr.nictusa.com/election/results/08GEN/06009000.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081107080940/http://miboecfr.nictusa.com/election/results/08GEN/06009000.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=November 7, 2008 |title = 2008 Unofficial Michigan General Election Results – 9th District Representative in Congress 2 Year Term (1) Position}}</ref>}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Democratic Party (US)
  |candidate  = [[Gary Peters]]
  |votes      = 183,311
  |percentage = 52.1
  |change     = +5.9
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Republican Party (US)
  |candidate  = [[Joe Knollenberg]] (i)
  |votes      = 150,035
  |percentage = 42.6
  |change     = -9.0
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Independent (politician)
  |candidate  = Jack Kevorkian
  |votes      = 8,987
  |percentage = 2.6
  |change     = N/A
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Libertarian Party (United States)
  |candidate  = Adam Goodman
  |votes      = 4,893
  |percentage = 1.4
  |change     = -0.1
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Green Party (United States)
  |candidate  = Douglas Campbell
  |votes      = 4,737
  |percentage = 1.3
  |change     = +0.4
}}
{{Election box gain with party link
| winner = Democratic Party (United States)
| loser = Republican Party (United States)
| swing      =
}}
{{Election box end}}

==Illness and death==
Kevorkian had struggled with kidney problems for years.<ref name="CNNobit">{{cite news| title=Dr. Jack Kevorkian dead at 83| date=June 3, 2011| url=http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/03/report-dr-jack-kevorkian-dead| publisher=CNN| access-date=June 3, 2011| archive-date=August 10, 2014| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810215013/http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/03/report-dr-jack-kevorkian-dead/| url-status=dead}}</ref> He was diagnosed with [[liver cancer]], which "may have been caused by [[hepatitis C]]," according to his longtime friend Neal Nicol.<ref name=DFP>{{cite news|title=Assisted suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian dies |author1=Joe Swickard |author2=Pat Anstett |date=June 3, 2011 |newspaper=Detroit Free Press |publisher=Freep.com |url=http://www.freep.com/article/20110603/NEWS01/110603016/Assisted-suicide-advocate-Jack-Kevorkian-diesAGE |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605030057/http://www.freep.com/article/20110603/NEWS01/110603016/Assisted-suicide-advocate-Jack-Kevorkian-diesAGE |archive-date=June 5, 2011 }}</ref> Kevorkian was hospitalized on May 18, 2011, with kidney problems and [[pneumonia]].<ref name=Schneider/> Kevorkian's condition rapidly worsened and he died from a [[thrombosis]] on June 3, 2011, at [[William Beaumont Hospital]] in [[Royal Oak, Michigan]].<ref name=Schneider/><ref name="medicalnewstoday"/> According to his attorney, Mayer Morganroth, there were no artificial attempts to keep him alive and his death was painless.<ref name=DFP/> Kevorkian was buried in [[White Chapel Memorial Cemetery]] in [[Troy, Michigan]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.freep.com/article/20110603/NEWS05/110603029/Remembering-Jack-Kevorkian |title=With video: Politicians, officials and residents remember Kevorkian |date=June 3, 2011 |newspaper=Detroit Free Press |publisher=Freep.com |access-date=February 13, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608174246/http://www.freep.com/article/20110603/NEWS05/110603029/Remembering-Jack-Kevorkian |archive-date=June 8, 2011 }}</ref>

==Legacy==
Judge Thomas Jackson, who presided over Kevorkian's first murder trial in 1994, commented that he wanted to express sorrow at Kevorkian's death and that the 1994 case was brought under "a badly written law" aimed at Kevorkian, but he attempted to give him "the best trial possible". [[Geoffrey Fieger]], Kevorkian's lawyer during the 1990s, gave a speech at a press conference in which he stated: "Dr. Jack Kevorkian didn't seek out history, but he made history."<ref name="legacy1"/> Fieger said that Kevorkian revolutionized the concept of suicide by working to help people end their own suffering, because he believed physicians are responsible for alleviating the suffering of patients, even if that meant allowing patients to die.<ref name="legacy1"/>

Kevorkian spoke at Presbyterian and Episcopal churches to gain support for euthanasia.<ref>{{cite web|title=Dr. Death asks parishioners for help in assisted suicide campaign|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1994/01/31/Dr-Death-asks-parishioners-for-help-in-assisted-suicide-campaign/3530759992400/|access-date=January 28, 2022|website=UPI|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1994/01/31/kevorkian-pleads-for-legalization-of-assisted-suicide/318cfe37-1bad-44ed-a0d0-60a23b06e432/ |title=Kevorkian Pleads For Legalization Of Assisted Suicide |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date= |accessdate=February 16, 2022}}</ref> John Finn, medical director of palliative care at the Catholic<ref name="stjohn">{{cite web |url=http://www.stjohnprovidence.org/aboutsjh/mission/ |title=Mission and Values, St. John Health, as a Catholic health ministry |work=stjohnprovidence.org |year=2011 |access-date=July 27, 2011 |archive-date=August 17, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110817032803/http://www.stjohnprovidence.org/aboutsjh/mission/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> St. John's Hospital, said Kevorkian's methods were unorthodox and inappropriate. He added that many of Kevorkian's patients were isolated, lonely, and potentially depressed, and therefore in no state to mindfully choose whether to live or die.<ref name="legacy1" /> [[Derek Humphry]], author of the suicide handbook ''[[Final Exit]]'', said Kevorkian was "too obsessed, too fanatical, in his interest in death and suicide to offer direction for the nation".<ref name="SparkedDebate">{{cite news|url=http://www.freep.com/article/20110604/NEWS05/106040427 |title=Jack Kevorkian sparked a debate on death |date=June 4, 2011 |work=Detroit Free Press |access-date=February 13, 2012 |publisher=Freep.com |author1=Joe Swickard |author2=Patricia Anstett |author3=L.L. Brasier |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110915113206/http://www.freep.com/article/20110604/NEWS05/106040427 |archive-date=September 15, 2011 }}</ref>

In a 2015 [[Retro Report]] story about Kevorkian's legacy and the Right to Die movement, journalist Jack Lessenberry said Kevorkian "got a national debate going, which I think he then helped stifle by his own outrageous actions".<ref>{{cite web|last1=Wilson |first1=Sianne |title=A Right to Die? |url=http://www.retroreport.org/video/a-right-to-die/transcript#entry-content |website=www.RetroReport.org |publisher=Retro Report |access-date=July 30, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160201171735/http://www.retroreport.org/video/a-right-to-die/transcript |archive-date=February 1, 2016 }}</ref> Howard Markel, a medical historian at the [[University of Michigan]], said that Kevorkian "was a major historical figure in modern medicine".<ref name="legacy1">{{cite web |url=http://www.michigandaily.com/news/u-medical-school-alum-kevorkian-dies-83 |title='U' Medical School alum Dr. Kevorkian dies at 83 |access-date=July 6, 2011 |work=The Michigan Daily |author=Brienne Prusak |date=June 2011 |archive-date=June 15, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615033535/http://www.michigandaily.com/news/u-medical-school-alum-kevorkian-dies-83 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Catholic Church in Detroit said Kevorkian left behind a "deadly legacy" that denied scores of people their right to "dignified, natural" deaths.<ref name="Detroit2">{{cite news|url=http://www.freep.com/article/20110603/NEWS05/110603062 |title=Archdiocese of Detroit: Kevorkian leaves 'deadly legacy' |work=Detroit Free Press |publisher=Freep.com |access-date=July 15, 2011 |author=Niraj Warikoo |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110808222525/http://www.freep.com/article/20110603/NEWS05/110603062 |archive-date=August 8, 2011 }}</ref> [[Philip Nitschke]], founder and director of right-to-die organization [[Exit International]], said that Kevorkian "moved the debate forward in ways the rest of us can only imagine. He started at a time when it was hardly talked about and got people thinking about the issue. He paid one hell of a price, and that is one of the hallmarks of true heroism."<ref name="ABCobit">{{cite web |url= https://abcnews.go.com/Health/jack-kevorkian-godfather-die-movement-leaves-controversial-legacy/story?id=13752603 |title=Jack Kevorkian, Godfather of Right-to Die-Movement, Dies Leaving Controversial Legacy |first= Susan |last=Donaldson James |publisher=ABC News | date=June 23, 2011| access-date=February 13, 2012}}</ref>

The epitaph on Kevorkian's tombstone reads, "He sacrificed himself for everyone's rights."

In 2015, the 1968 [[Volkswagen Type 2]] van in which Jack Kevorkian assisted some of his suicidal patients was bought by [[paranormal investigator]] [[Zak Bagans]] (from the documentary series ''[[Ghost Adventures]]'') for display in his haunted museum in [[Las Vegas]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://eu.freep.com/story/news/local/2015/08/29/kevorkian-van-sold-zak-bagans-seth-gold/71387240/|title=Infamous Kevorkian van sold to ghost hunter|access-date=September 5, 2020|archive-date=September 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200909145844/https://eu.freep.com/story/news/local/2015/08/29/kevorkian-van-sold-zak-bagans-seth-gold/71387240/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Publications==
===Books===
* {{cite book|title=The Story of Dissection|author=Kevorkian, Jack|publisher=[[Philosophical Library]]|year=1959|isbn=978-1-258-07746-4}}
* {{cite book|title=Medical Research and the Death Penalty: A Dialogue|author=Kevorkian, Jack|publisher=[[Vantage Books]]|year=1960|isbn=978-0-9602030-1-7}}
* {{cite book|title=Beyond Any Kind of God|author=Kevorkian, Jack|publisher=Philosophical Library|year=1966|isbn=978-0-8022-0847-7}}†
* {{cite book|title=Slimmericks and the Demi-Diet|author=Kevorkian, Jack|publisher=Penumbra, Inc|year=1978|isbn=978-0-9602030-0-0}}††
* {{cite book|title=Prescription: Medicide, the Goodness of Planned Death|url=https://archive.org/details/prescriptionmedi00kevo|url-access=registration|author=Kevorkian, Jack|year=1991|isbn=978-0-87975-872-1|publisher=[[Prometheus Books]] |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}
* {{cite book|title=glimmerIQs|author=Kevorkian, Jack|publisher=Penumbra, Inc|year=2004|isbn=978-0-9602030-7-9}}
* {{cite book|title=Amendment IX: Our Cornucopia of Rights|author=Kevorkian, Jack|year=2005|isbn=096020301X|publisher=Penumbra, Inc}}
* {{cite book|title=When the People Bubble POPs|author=Kevorkian, Jack|publisher=World Audience, Inc|year=2010|isbn=978-1-935444-91-6}}

<small>† = Later heavily revised and incorporated into ''glimmerIQs''</small>

<small>†† = Later incorporated in abridged form into ''glimmerIQs''</small>

<small>* = Revised and distributed in 2009 by World Audience, Inc.</small>

===Selected journal articles===
* {{cite journal | author = Kevorkian J | title = Opinions on capital punishment, executions and medical science | journal = Medicine and Law | volume = 4 | issue = 6 | pages = 515–533 | year = 1985 | pmid = 4094526 }}
* {{cite journal | author = Kevorkian J | title = Capital punishment and organ retrieval | journal = Canadian Medical Association Journal | volume = 136 | issue = 12 | page = 1240 | year = 1987 | pmid = 3580984 | pmc = 1492232 }}
* {{cite journal | author = Kevorkian J | title = The last fearsome taboo: Medical aspects of planned death | journal = Medicine and Law | volume = 7 | issue = 1 | pages = 1–14 | year = 1988 | pmid = 3277000 }}
* {{cite journal | author = Kevorkian J | title = Marketing of human organs and tissues is justified and necessary | journal = Medicine and Law | volume =  7| issue = 6 | pages = 557–565 | year = 1989 | pmid = 2495395 }}

==In culture==
{{in popular culture|date=December 2025}}
=== In Video Games ===

*   The "[[Steam (service)|Steam]]" version of the computer game "[[Postal (video game)|Postal]]" has an achievement called "How Kevorkian!", awarded for finishing off a wounded enemy<ref>{{Cite web |title=Steam Community :: POSTAL :: Achievements |url=https://steamcommunity.com/stats/POSTAL/achievements/ |access-date=2025-12-27 |website=steamcommunity.com |language=en}}</ref>.
*   In the computer game "[[Blood (video game)|Blood]]" entering the [[cheat code]] <code>kevorkian</code> leads to the hero's suicide.
*   The computer game "[[Pirates, Vikings and Knights II]]" has an achievement called "Dr. Kevorkian", in which you must help 100 players commit suicide.
*   The computer game "[[Deus Ex: Human Revolution]]" features a mention of "Kevorkian's Syndrome" as the name of a secret achievement.
*   The computer game "[[No More Room in Hell]]" has an achievement called "Kevorkian", awarded for "helping" an infected player find peace.
*   The computer game "[[Lucius (video game)|Lucius]]" has an achievement called "Dr. Kevorkian", awarded for contributing to three suicides.
*   In the computer game "[[Postal: Brain Damaged|POSTAL: Brain Damaged]]", when killing any of the monsters, the main character can say a phrase referencing "Dr. Kevorkian's methods".

=== In Film ===

*   In the film "[[Nomadland]]", Fern ([[Frances McDormand]]) discusses Dr. Kevorkian's book with a nomadic woman named Swankie. Swankie says she took the book on her last pilgrimage to her childhood places with the possible intention of suicide, as she suffers from cancer.
*   In the television series "[[Beverly Hills, 90210]]" (Season 4, Episode 23), one of the main characters mentions Dr. Kevorkian in a conversation: "Listen, for the sake of world peace, call Dr. Kevorkian".
*   "[[You Don't Know Jack (film)|You Don't Know Jack]]", 2010 American [[Television film|made-for-television]] [[Biographical film]] about the life of Kevorkian. The doctor was played by [[Al Pacino]].
*   Jack Kevorkian is mentioned in [[Woody Allen|Woody Allen's]] film "[[Hollywood Ending]]".
*   In the film "[[The Naked Gun]]", one character offers another Kevorkian's phone number.
*   In the "[[Death (South Park)|Death]]" episode of the animated series "[[South Park]]" (Season 1, Episode 6), Dr. Kevorkian is mentioned: "There's this guy named Jack Labourkyan, or something like that. He wanders around and kills everyone who asks him to. And he gets away with it".
*   In the "[[Quintuplets 2000]]" episode of the animated series "[[South Park]]" (Season 4, Episode 4), Dr. Kevorkian is mentioned: When residents protest and say that Romania sucks, [[Chris Stotch|Chris Stoitch]] mixes up signs and one of them reads "Free Kevorkyan".
*   In the sixth episode of the sixth season of the animated series "[[Futurama]]", Dr. Zoidberg says to Bender, "Then suicide! Let's go to my office, I'll give you a good Kevorkian".
*   In the show "[[In Living Color]]", [[Jim Carrey]] played the role.
*   In the television series "[[Law & Order]]" (Season 8, Episode 20), Kevorkian is mentioned by a lawyer defending a doctor who killed a boy. The lawyer, speaking to the jury, compares his client to Kevorkian and says that he is tried but acquitted.
*   In the television series "[[Law & Order: Special Victims Unit]]" (Season 1, Episode 3), Detective John Munch mentions Kevorkian while questioning an elderly woman with Alzheimer's disease: "When this steel trap starts to rust, call Kevorkian".
*   In the television series "[[Criminal Minds]]" (Season 3, Episode 4), a witness telling Hotchner and Prentiss about a suspect says: "Back in the state, he's a livestock breeder, but really, he's a Kevorkian".
*   In [[Clint Eastwood|Clint Eastwood's]] film "[[Absolute Power (film)|Absolute Power]]", in a scene where a doctor disguised as a physician enters a room, Eastwood's character asks before he is killed: "Are you Dr. Kevorkian?"
*   In the film "[[Wrongfully Accused]]" in the hospital scene.
*   In the film "[[Just Go with It]]".
*In the television series "[[Supernatural (American TV series)|Supernatural]]" (Season 7, Episode 22), Dean mentions Kevorkian in a conversation with Sam about Bobby.
*   In the television series "[[Charmed]]" (Season 1, Episode 20), in a conversation about a deadly cocktail from the "Book of Shadows", Phoebe ironically mentions Dr. Kevorkian.
*   In the television series "[[The Simpsons]]", Season 19, Episode 4.
*In the television series "[[Bones (TV series)|Bones]]", Season 3, Episode 6, agent Booth says: "Kevorkian was a doctor too."
*   In the television series "[[BoJack Horseman]]", Season 5, Episode 10, Zick says "What do relatives of the sick say to Dr. Kevorkian", Abel responds "I'm signing off".
*   In the television series "[[The West Wing]]", Season 3, Episode 3, Will Bailey addresses the President: "America wants a happy warrior running the country, not Dr. Kevorkian." Josh Lyman echoes him, jokingly: "That's right, sir. America doesn't want Dr. Kevorkian running the country; we have poll data to that effect".

=== In Literature ===

*   Jack Kevorkian is mentioned in the book "The Charon Chronicles. An Encyclopedia of Death".
*   The name of Dr. Kevorkian is used in the essay by [[Kurt Vonnegut]] "[[God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian]]".
*   He is mentioned in [[Scott Adams|Scott Adams']] book "[[Dilbert]]: The Principle".
*   He is also mentioned in [[Pat Buchanan|Patrick J. Buchanan's]] article "Death of the West: How Population Implosion and Immigration Threaten Our Country and Civilization".
*   Russian philosopher Vadim Filatov wrote the poem "Doctor of Love" upon Jack Kevorkian's death.
*   He is mentioned in [[Ram Dass|Ram Dass's]] book "Still Here" about the problems of old age.
*   He is mentioned in Stephen King's "Insomnia" in a short story by Louise Ralph about their former family doctor: "Karl Litchenfield is an arrogant, conceited blowhard, more interested in how he looks in his suspenders and stylish shirts than in the fates of his patients. —What cynicism!— And that's the sad part. He’s thirty-five or thirty-six now. He thinks that when he turns forty, he's just… going to stop. Remain forty as long as he wants. He thinks that by sixty, people become senile, and that most of them succumb to senility after sixty-five, and if you’re lucky enough to live to eighty, then you need to thank fate if your children take you to Dr. Kevorkian".

=== In Music ===

*   There is a musical group called "[[Kevorkian Death Cycle]]".
*   The Canadian thrash metal group "[[Anvil (band)|Anvil]]" has a track called "Doctor Kevorkian" on the album "[[Plugged in Permanent]]".
*   He is mentioned in [[Eminem|Eminem's]] freestyle — "It's Only Fair To Warn": "...Doctor Kevorkian has arrived to perform an autopsy on you while you scream „I’M STILL ALIVE!…“", "Weed Lacer": "I'm messed up, I feel just like an overworked plumber, I'm sick of the crap, what's Jack Kevorkian's phone number?"
*   He is mentioned in the song "[[Fast Lane (Bad Meets Evil song)|Fast Lane]]" by the rap duo [[Bad Meets Evil]]: "…You'll let me take this shovel, dig up the corpse, Jack Kevorkian. Go back and fork in more beef that you can pack a fork in…"
*   He is mentioned in the song [[Sadistik]] ft. Sticky Fingaz & Tech N9ne — "Dark Warrant": "…I'm a pathologist, Dr. Kevorkian…"
*   In the [[King Crimson]] song "Coda — I Have A Dream" (album "[[The Construkction of Light|The ConstruKction Of Light]]", 2000).
*   The song "Velvet Kevorkian" by the band "[[Strapping Young Lad]]" (album "City", 1997) references him in its title.
*   The band "[[Anal Cunt]]" has a song called "Jack Kevorkian Is Cool" (album "I Like It When You Die", 1997).
*   "[[Public Enemy]]" has a song called "Kevorkian".
*   "[[Suicide Commando]]" has a track called "Kevorkian".
*   The "[[Body Count (band)|Body Count]]" rap-metal group's album "[[Violent Demise: The Last Days]]" has a 15th track called "Dr. K" dedicated to Jack Kevorkian.
*   The band "Konstanta", in the song "By the Window", mentions Kevorkian.
*   Ceza ft. Tech N9ne — "Dark Places": "…Onları doktor kevorkian paklar, isimsiz kalmış…"
*   In [[Eminem|Eminem's]] — "Chloraseptic (Remix)": "Back and forth, back and forth like Jack Kevorkian's ass to court".
* "[[Paegan Terrorism Tactics]]", a 1996 album by [[Acid Bath]], features a painting by Kevorkian for the cover art<ref>{{Cite web |title=CoC : Acid Bath - Paegan Terrorism Tactics : Review |url=http://www.chroniclesofchaos.com/articles.aspx?id=2-272 |access-date=November 15, 2024 |website=www.chroniclesofchaos.com}}</ref>
*   The song "Kevorkian Times" by the Norwegian band [[Darkthrone]] (album "Astral Fortress", 2022).

==See also==
* ''[[God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian]]'', a collection of short fictional interviews written by [[Kurt Vonnegut]]

==References==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==External links==
{{Commons and category}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{NYTtopic|people/k/jack_kevorkian}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160201171735/http://www.retroreport.org/video/a-right-to-die/transcript#entry-content/ A Right to Die?] a documentary from [[Retro Report]]
* [http://www.radiohorrorhosts.com/prellsuicide.mp3 "Papa" Prell Radio interview with Kevorkian.] (MP3, 15 minutes). [https://web.archive.org/web/20100625025258/http://www.radiohorrorhosts.com/prell.html Prell archive] at Radio Horror Hosts website.
* {{cite web|url=http://www.courttv.com/casefiles/kevorkian/kevorkian.html |title=Court TV Case Files&nbsp;– Trial coverage. |publisher=CourtTV.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070208133712/http://www.courttv.com/casefiles/kevorkian/kevorkian.html |archive-date=February 8, 2007 |access-date=August 3, 2010}}
* [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kevorkian/ "The Kevorkian Verdict: The Life and Legacy of the Suicide Doctor"] ''Frontline''; PBS.org&nbsp;– with timeline and other info.
* [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kevorkian/aboutk/art/index.html Kevorkian's Art Work] ''Frontline''; PBS.org.
* {{cite web| title=Unsung American-Armenian Hero Kevorkian Coming Home To Die |work=James Donahue website |publisher=tripod.com |date=May 2007 |url=http://perdurabo10.tripod.com/jamesdonahuesstories/id327.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070608214510/http://perdurabo10.tripod.com/jamesdonahuesstories/id327.html |archive-date=June 8, 2007 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100225065113/http://www.hlrecord.org/2.4463/kevorkian-reconsiders-9th-amendment-1.577567 Kevorkian on law and the constitution] during an appearance at [[Harvard Law School]] (''[[Harvard Law Record]]'')
* [http://www.state.mi.us/mdoc/asp/otis2profile.asp?mdocNumber=284797 Michigan Department of Corrections record for Jack Kevorkian] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110113205313/http://www.state.mi.us/mdoc/asp/otis2profile.asp?mdocNumber=284797 |date=January 13, 2011 }}
* {{Find a Grave|70771866}}

{{EthicsCases}}
{{Portal bar|Michigan|Biography|Medicine|Law}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kevorkian, Jack}}
[[Category:20th-century American criminals]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American physicians]]
[[Category:21st-century American male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:American critics of religions]]
[[Category:American male criminals]]
[[Category:American medical writers]]
[[Category:American pathologists]]
[[Category:American people convicted of murder]]
[[Category:American people of Armenian descent]]
[[Category:American political candidates]]
[[Category:Assisted suicide in the United States]]
[[Category:Candidates in the 2008 United States elections]]
[[Category:Criminals from Michigan]]
[[Category:Deaths from kidney failure in Michigan]]
[[Category:Deaths from thrombosis]]
[[Category:Euthanasia activists]]
[[Category:Euthanasia doctors]]
[[Category:Euthanasia in the United States]]
[[Category:Medical practitioners convicted of murdering their patients]]
[[Category:Michigan independents]]
[[Category:Multilingual writers]]
[[Category:People convicted of murder by Michigan]]
[[Category:People from Pontiac, Michigan]]
[[Category:People involved with death and dying]]
[[Category:Physicians from Michigan]]
[[Category:University of Michigan Medical School alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Michigan]]
[[Category:1928 births]]
[[Category:2011 deaths]]