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This version of NSU News has been archived as of February 28, 2019. To search through archived articles, visit nova.edu/search. To access the new version of NSU News, visit news.nova.edu.
This version of SharkBytes has been archived as of February 28, 2019. To search through archived articles, visit nova.edu/search. To access the new version of SharkBytes, visit sharkbytes.nova.edu.
Nova Southeastern University Welcomes Jack Kevorkian, M.D.
Ft. Lauderdale (Davie), FLA. – The Nova Southeastern University (NSU) Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences will host an evening with Jack Kevorkian, M.D., the controversial physician who assisted his patients in committing suicide.
Kevorkian will speak on Thursday, Feb. 5, from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m., at the University Center on NSU’s Davie campus. As part of the college’s Distinguished Speakers Series, Kevorkian will speak on “Assisted Suicide” and the “Right to Die”,corresponding with the college’s 2008-2009 academic theme of “Life and Death.”
Kevorkian’s first assisted suicide was in 1990, when his “suicide machine” was used by a 54-year-old woman in Portland, Oregon, who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. In September 1998, Kevorkian videotaped an assisted suicide in which he, not the patient, pressed the switch to initiate his device’s lethal intravenous drip. Soon after the video aired on the CBS’s 60 Minutes, Kevorkian was arrested for first-degree murder. In March 1999, he was convicted of second-degree murder, served eight years in prison, and was released in June 2007.
After his release from prison, Kevorkian promised to no longer assist in any suicides. However, he continues to advocate for the decriminalization of assisted suicide and serves as a vocal proponent of a person’s right to choose suicide when faced with terminal illness.
Kevorkian graduated from the University of Michigan’s medical school in 1952 and began his career as a pathology specialist studying terminal disease. His experiences with terminally ill patients eventually brought him to the conclusion that there existed a human “right to die” and that a doctor’s choice to aid in a terminally ill patient’s suicide could be considered an ethical one. Kevorkian later designed a machine which would allow patients to trigger an intravenous drip of an anesthetic to induce sleep and then coma, followed by an agent that would stop the patient’s heart.
The College of Arts and Sciences’ annual academic themes, frame co-curricular programs and experiences, and play an important role in realizing NSU’s mission to prepare students for rich professional careers and active citizenship. Throughout the 2008-2009 academic year, students examine the relationship of life and death within social, scientific, legal, religious, political, and artistic contexts. As part of this analysis, they explore how life and death are discussed and defined and how our cultural expectations and beliefs regarding the human life cycle form all of our experiences. Previous academic themes have included explorations of “Good and Evil” and “Identity”.
Kevorkian’s lecture is free and open to the public; however, tickets are required for admission.
Tickets are available beginning Jan. 5 through the college’s Office of the Dean, located on the second floor of the Mailman-Hollywood Building on NSU’s main campus in Davie or by calling (954) 262-8236. For more information, visit www.fcas.nova.edu/articles/dss/jackkevorkian.
Media Contact:
Felecia Henderson, NSU Office of Public Affairs
(954) 262-5315 Office, fhenders@nova.edu