The Thanatron
In 1989, Dr. Jack Kevorkian invented "The Thanatron," his patented suicide-machine. In Greek, "thanatron" means "death machine." This device, made out of scrap parts Kevorkian found at garage sales and around his home, was designed to provide terminally ill patients the dignified death they wanted.
Kevorkian designed the Thanatron so that it could be operated by the patient with minimal physician assistance. After a doctor inserted an intravenous tube (IV) into the patient, the patient need only to pull the trigger for the process to begin. The Thanatron first started with a simple saline solution, a solution widely used in hospitals to replenish fluids in patients. When the patient pressed another button the Thanatron, the saline drip would stop and thiopental, a coma-inducing drug, would begin to enter the patient. The thiopental would be on a 60-second timer, and by the time the 60 seconds had ended, the patient was in a deep sleep, completely unconscious and unable to feel any pain. After 60 seconds of the thopental had ended, a lethal amount of potassium chloride would be injected into the patient. Potassium Chloride is a powerful drug which stops the heart within mere minutes. Since the patient was in a deep coma, he would be unable to feel the pain of the heart attack and would die a painless and peaceful death.
After his medical liscense was revoked, Kevorkian no longer had access to the chemicals necessary to use the Thanatron. Instead, he continued to assist in suicides by using a gas mask and a tank of carbon monoxide.