Scene 1
DEATH IS SELDOM DIGNIFIED
(Lights come up to Keith Taylor who is sitting in a metal folding chair, center stage)
Keith: I was born in 1930, and by all other means I should be dead by now. I�ve outlived my life expectancy, and I don�t see any real reason to give up living now. I have spent twenty-three years in the Navy followed by twenty-two as an insurance broker. I feel I can do whatever I please, and live the rest of my life out to the fullest. I have run a marathon, hiked up the highest mountain in California and have many friends who are just as active.
Living, to me, is not just the act of breathing. You shouldn't have to wake up knowing your day will be full of pain. There shouldn't be pity in the acts that you can do or the way you are with others. It shouldn't be that way.
A year ago the wife of one of my close friends, Freddie, called me up. It was unfortunate. Before she even spoke I could tell that there was something wrong. After we had finished, I knew I didn't want to make that call. Freddie had been diagnosed with cancer and I had been asked to cheer him up. We didn�t pussyfoot around the subject; I made no allusions that he didn�t have cancer. But we talked. Got our mind off the issue. He even stared to cheer me up. That�s what friends do.
The doctors had to remove his bladder but he still had cancer in his lymph glands. He decided to turn down chemotherapy because he had seen a friend go through it horribly. So he decided to live out the remaining few months that he had of his life in a lot of pain. I feel sorry for Trudy; she has to stay with him at home. He constantly has to stay on morphine so he won't wake up, if he does he wakes up screaming until he dies. She shouldn't have to do that, Freddie�s no more than a big diapered baby, he�s so removed from this world.
It wasn't right. Freddie was a happy joyous man who deserved better than that. It's unbelievable the amount of medical bills that Trudy will have to pay. I don't know. It doesn't happen to everybody like this, but death, no matter what form it's in, isn't respectful to the person. And for people in my good friend Freddie's position, what hope is there, for them or their family and friends?
What do I think of Jack Kevorkian? I think he's on the right track. He knows that death is seldom dignified. We should be in control of our own lives, and that free will should include the right to die. I don't know if Freddie would have wanted it that way. I can only imagine how he would have taken up Dr. Kevorkian�s solution. But to those of us that surrounded Freddie his whole life and near his last days, I think we may have thought it better. To free Freddie from his pain, as an act of mercy for him. That would have honored him, to have him make the call and be in control of his life from beginning to end. The governments only role is to but out. Not for me, but for Freddie.
(Fade to black)
Scene 2
I WILL WORK ALONE
(Lights come up as the same metal folding chair is seen, centerstage. As Kevorkian walks out to the chair, backstage noise and booing is heard. Kevorkian remains silent, emotions bubbling just underneath the surface until he shouts)
Kevorkian: This is not a trial! There is no law, none! This is a lynching! By all means we should not be here. I don�t really care what the prosecution may say; you ain't got a case!
(During Kevorkian�s rant the noises die down as the sound of a gavel banging is heard. Kevorkian waits a moment, then seems to respond to questions given to him by an imaginary prosecutor as he faces front.)
Kevorkian: As I have said before I have a clear intention to work outside the law. The one that you think exists. You say that I kill people. I do not, and never have had the intent to kill anyone. I intended to end their suffering that they themselves could not escape. They needed mercy when no one else would give it to them! There is no trial here!
(Voices drown out the rest of Kevorkian's speech as gavel noises are heard again and everything is silent save for Kevorkian's voice)
Kevorkian: How did my infatuation with death begin? I don't think we know what death really is. We don't know what living really is until we understand the nature of death. I was a young pathologist in Pontiac, Michigan when I began my research into dead bodies. There are exemplary uses for dead bodies you realize. The organs from condemned murders in this society go to waste. It would be better to utilize them for experimentation; the brain, living and intact would provide a unique opportunity for study. Think of all the wasted blood in a corpse. In war or in a horrible natural disaster, it would be far more efficient to transfuse blood directly from a corpse into a patient instead of waiting around while people die.
(Lights fade as Kevorkian's chair is moved slightly stage right, as another metal folding chair comes up beside his. A woman, Janet Goode, sits wearing a pink sweater and eyeglasses)
Goode: I had to sit and practically watch my mother die for three and a half years. She had these awful bedsores from lying there. She couldn�t (begins tearing up) I'm sorry. Her mind was gone, she couldn't recognize me; I could see it in her eyes.
(Light transition to spot on Kevorkian�s chair)
Kevorkian: You can tell much from looking at the eyes of a person when they die, how their pupils dilate. To investigate further into the matter, I photographed the eyes of the dead and dying. I wanted to know when the dying completes. The first patient that I treated was a great woman, Janet Adkins in 1990. She was suffering from a terrible bout of Alzheimers at the age of fifty-four and came to me for help. What I did was very tough; I loved that woman. We had found a spot in a suburban park to take my Volkswagen, also present were my two sisters Flora and Margo. I attached an intravenous tube into her arm, which began the flow of a harmless saline solution. Then Janet flipped the switch. Anesthetic would enter her system first, followed sixty seconds later by potassium chloride, a potentially fatal chemical that could stop her heart. Had anyone else offered to be there? Yes. A woman that I had no use for at the time, Janet Goode.
(Light transition as we refocus on Janet�s chair)
Goode: I believe people have a right to have a soft landing, to die without having to go through pain or stress. I can�t let what happened to my mother and I happen to anyone else. It shouldn't have to be that way. I joined the Hemlock society in '89; they are a group of advocates for right-to-die issues.
I had read in a newspaper article in the Oakland press about a supposed "mad doctor" who had invented a machine to assist in suicide. I had jumped at the chance because I wanted to help, but he rejected me because of my connection to the Hemlock organization. He had wanted to start a clinic in California and wondered if our founder, Derek Humpry, could refer any potential patients to him. Derek had let me know later that he was horrified, he couldn�t agree to Dr. Kevorkian's idea because the opponents of assisted-suicide would have used the clinic as way of strengthening their cause. But he had really told him that you couldn�t break the law when your intention is to change it.
I kept trying to call the Doctor, and eventually through our phone conversations he began to soften. I thought I finally had a chance to help this good man. We decided to perform the first assisted suicide at my home in Detroit�s Farmington Hills. But husband opposed it; he was a retired cop of fourteen years and imposed Martial Law I guess. He said it sounded illegal. I respected his decision but felt I had lost my chance. When I heard about Dr. Kevorkian and Janet Adkins on the news, I was flown to New York to do a spot on the Today show. I represented Hemlock as a chairwoman, but when I got back no one supported me. They said I had betrayed the cause by supporting Dr. Kevorkian, they said his behavior was reckless and damaged the public image of right-to-die advocates. I told them that if they pressured me to stop backing Kevorkian I would dissolve the Michigan chapter of Hemlock. That was it. I decided that I wasn�t going to back down, Jack Kevorkian is my hero.
(Shouting erupts from backstage as people boo and revile this notion. As lights fade the shouting dies down, and the lights come back up in silence except for Kevorkian)
Kevorkian: She was Hemlock, and I had no use for Hemlock people at that time. But eventually, I don�' know when, I trusted her. I won't accept the assistance of hypocrites. If people don't help me then I will work alone. (Fade to black)
Scene 3
THERE IS NO LAW
(Lights come up from black in a red tone, to blue, and then to a single white spot on Kevorkian as he sits in his chair)
Kevorkain: I have researched this myself, as of 1990, there was no law against patient assisted suicide. The courts are corrupt. They are trying to put me away for a crime that doesn�t exist! What I am doing is no crime! I suppose there was only one man who would understand me from this point of view, and that was Geoffrey Nels Fieger. He is an excellent lawyer and believes in my cause but he is my opposite by all means and ends. He enjoys the wealth brought to him by his job, I on the other hand prefer to buy my clothes from the Salvation Army!
(Light transition to Janet Goode�s chair)
Goode: Yes. That's True. I saved mainly gay men; I supplied them with pills, leftover pills. It got around, people knew about it. It was the eighties, people were scared of AIDS and these men had come to me for a soft landing.
(Quick blue light on Kevorkian�s face as he says)
Kevorkian: I was amazed when she told me. I found out a couple years ago.
(Back to Goode)
Goode: But those kinds of things were never as clean as Doc's methods, there was a greater level of uncertainty that it might work at all. Death by pills and liquor take much longer, and you�re always worried that it might go wrong, which you never get with Dr. Kevokian�s methods. Do I think that I was breaking the law? I think I was helping give people what they deserve, what they have a right to decide. I�m sorry, I guess I didn�t answer your question.
(Light transition to downstage left as �Gary� reads a letter sitting down, Kevorkian recites aloud as Gary reads the letter in his lap)
Kevorkian: (Reading) "First, I can help patients only in southeastern Michigan: and you have already stated a willingness to travel. Second, the service cannot be performed in any rented facility because of potential legal difficulties. I�m sure can understand the reason for this. Therefore, I must ask if you have relative or friends in this area who could make a privately owned domicile available for your use. Etc. Etc. I sympathize with your sad situation and wish that circumstances were such that the above obstacles would never be a factor in helping people like you. Best wishes, Jack Kevorkian, M.D." (As he talks for the remainder of his time Gary remains with a spot on him, facing out)
That was a letter I wrote to Gary in '92. He was suffering from unending pain, rooted from a bullet wound that entered his spine. The doctors were unable to extract all the fragments from his back, and no one, not pain specialists, acupuncturists, or neurologists could relieve his pain. He was paralyzed from the neck down. How could he live with that? He came to me for help. Michigan was moving fast to ban physician-assisted suicide; they wanted to prevent this man from ending his suffering!
(Lights change to focus completely on Gary)
Gary: After nine months in the hospital, I required total care. I can't feed myself, can't drive, dress myself, or go to the bathroom without someone to help. I am always in some degree of pain or discomfort. Realistically there is no cure, and this type of life is not acceptable to me. All the pieces of life were in place before the accident, I lived a happy life in Los Angeles, and looked forward to having a wife and a family. But now all the pieces have fallen apart. I don�t want to die, but I don�t want to live like this.
(Lights fade again as Kevorkian is put back into the spotlight)
Kevorkian: I was again in court in '94 and a judge had asked me stop assisting suicides until the question� of their legality could be resolved. When that time had expired, I assisted a man who suffering with ALS, Lou Gehrig�s disease, with his suicide. I had decided to announce this to the press. I was determined to go against whatever law they had to prove what I am doing is right. Then the Michigan State Supreme Court offers a surprise ruling that what I�m doing goes against ancient, unwritten common law!? That�s a joke! If you want to stop a person from being in pain you are wrong! You are taking their right away! That is unjust! There is no law!
(Shouts increase to a fever pitch as the lights surrounding Kevorkian expand and a spot goes on Janet Goode as she stands up clapping. Guards come in and grab Kevorkian to escort him out, he screams "Let go of me! I'll walk myself! I'm not a criminal!" And shouts and Janet's clapping continue as Kevorkian walks out, Guards on either side)
Scene 4
BURN ME AT THE STAKE
(Lights come up as the two chairs are now pushed forward on stage with a spot on either chair, both are illuminated as either Kevorkian or Goode speaks)
Kevorkian: I am standing up for the right of people�s lives, the right not to have to suffer. It already exists, and we already should have this right. But we have to put it down in writing because of human irrationality. I am respecting the patient�s autonomy, it is the law that is holding them back.
Goode: It was Christmastime in 1995, and I was going to be celebrating my fifty-fourth wedding anniversary to Ray and wanted to spend time with my family. Earlier, in the fall, I had been diagnosed with advanced terminal pancreatic cancer, a tumor was blocking my bile duct. It was very hard on my family. Donna, my closest child, was especially broken up by the news. She was overweight and was smoking four packs of cigarettes a day. (Begins weeping, distressed) I�m sorry. It�s hard for me to think about it. Donna was looking at me and she just said �I can�t breathe!� The doctors said she died of a massive heart attack. Two days later, at the wake, Dr. Kevorkian was there. He looked at me and gave me a hug, which is totally out of character for him.
Doc was there for me when I needed help the most, he and I still work together reviewing cases of potential patients.
Kevorkian: I really don't think about it. Whatever happens it will be difficult. You know she was diagnosed the same year as Cardinal Bernardin, look what religion did for him! And then there�s Janet, she working on something that really matters to her, and she is still going! The difference is for you this is a cause, for me it�s just doing the right thing for a patient each time.
Goode: But if we don't care about the cause, how are things going to change? I�m helping you because I think it�s the right thing to do for them. You have to admit, help a patient and the cause comes automatically.
Kevorkian: Do you want to make me stop? (Suddenly stands up as if addressing a giant auditorium) I have not gone against the Hippocratic oath as some have thought. They say I am not following the Hippocratic oath because I prescribe treatment that causes my patients to die. What I do is act for the "good of my patients according to my ability and my judgement� by reliving the pain that they feel." That is also in the Hippocratic oath. I have never acted against the wishes of those patients that I can help, only assist them in what they have decided they need to do, and in that there is mercy.
People have compared my acts to that of the Nazis in the extermination camps. What I am doing is an ethical choice and a moral one. I assess the risks and the condition of my patient, to make sure he is aware of the choice he will make. I give them a choice that others neglect because our society is too emotional over the idea, scarred by the concentration camp atrocities. Therefore my attempt to give honor and dignity to the otherwise awful reality of death for some is unfairly stigmatized. These people came to me suffering, and they wanted it to end. They shouldn�t have to suffer more if they choose not to when death is inevitable, I only hurried their trip.
People have a right to die. That's it. Do you want to make me stop? Forget any so-called court, I have a higher duty. Burn me at the stake, then I�ll stop.
(Janet stands and looks on in admiration as the shouting from backstage is at its highest level. The lights and voices die down to a single spot near the front of the stage where a non-descript narrator steps forward)
Man: In 1998 Jack Kevorkian claims to have assisted 120 patients to commit suicide. He shows a videotape to CBS of him assisting in the death of Thomas Youk. March 26, 1999 Jack Kevorkian was convicted of second-degree murder for fatally injecting Thomas Youk, who was afflicted with ALS or Lou Gehrig�s disease. After the conviction the courts upheld that there is no principal basis for the court to legalize euthanasia. And within the constitutional right to privacy there is no right to euthanasia.
(Fade to black)
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