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Posted on 01/18/2008 7:40:41 AM PST by NYer
Gainesville, FL (AHN) - Dr. Jack Kevorkian surprised a crowd of over 5,000 people at the University of Florida (UF) Tuesday night when he unleashed an attack on the "made up mythology of religion," and said that while in medical school he never took the Hippocratic Oath.
Kevorkian, 79, spent his time in Gainesville meeting with the UF ACCENT Speakers Bureau and speaking with students at a question-and-answer session ahead of his sold-out speech at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center, Tuesday evening. Throughout the day though, Kevorkian's theme remained focused on the often overlooked 9th Amendment and the "terrible crisis" that is gripping the nation.
Aside from what some students called a "rambling tirade on law," Kevorkian did take some time to address the issue that most had come to hear; physician-assisted suicide. Kevorkian said he disagreed with an Oregon law that mandated a patient must take the suicidal medicine himself. Kevorkian has long maintained that suicide must be treated as a medical procedure, with the direct intervention of a physician, who will make sure there is an immediate and painless death.
"It's got to be a medical service. That's the only way to control it... It must be a medical service, so the obstacle is the [American Medical Association]. All you have to do is declare it to be a medical service, legitimately, and they'll take care of all the rest of it, just like they do with every medical procedure. You can't dictate medical procedures by law; they change all the time; research changes."
"My aim was not to cause death, that's crazy. My aim was to end suffering." Kevorkian cited modern examples of physician-assisted suicides, including the medically-involved deaths of author Mark Twain, psychologist Sigmund Freud and British King George V.
Yet from there, Kevorkian digressed into an attack on Catholic doctors, the Hippocratic oath and religion. Kevorkian said that the Hippocratic oath "wasn't discussed in medical school, and our class never took the oath. It isn't a medical oath; you pledge allegiance to all the gods and goddess, the pagan gods and goddesses of Greeks - what sense is that today?" He added that the Hippocratic oath was the byproduct of a "secret, small Pythagorean sect" that was the only group to oppose the ancient tradition of a physician helping a terminally ill patient end his life.
"The only oath we have, the only ethics we have in medicine are religious ethics" and "religion is nothing more than a made-up mythology [and] the basis of religion is fear."
"A doctor limited by dogma isn't a real physician; he should have been a priest," Kevorkian said. "They think life's sacred... I don't feel sacred, frankly. I've got a life and I don't feel sacred."
Overall, students felt Kevorkian should have spent more time talking about physician-assisted suicide, the issue that brought him to trial five times in the 1990's and finally led to his conviction in 1999. "It's good to hear his point of view," UF undergraduate student Kristen Perry said. "I don't know if i would go so far as to say that euthanasia should be legalized, but I think if it is, he's definitely right about how we should go about doing it."
Another issue ahead of the speech was protests. While local activist groups like the UF on-campus branch of the Pro Life Alliance organization claimed almost a hundred demonstrators would show up, AHN found a meager handful of bused-in retirees and high school students on hand for the event. A graphic banner equating abortion to physician-assisted suicide was silently put up while bland signs saying "DEATH isn't welcome here" were handed out to a handful of demonstrators who braved 40-degree weather to get their message out.
Bobby Schindler, brother of the late Terri Schiavo, was also scheduled to make an appearance amid the tight security the university arranged for the event. However, despite starting a petition to persuade UF to rescind its offer to Kevorkian and speaking out against the speech to several pro-life groups, Schindler was an inexplicable no-show on Tuesday.
Local and university police were on hand, but the protesters gathered without even a chant and went largely unnoticed by a sold-out crowd that began lining up hours before the event. In the end, it was Kevorkian's radical comments on race, religion and the state of the Union that became the bombshell.
So much for the Left's most recent strategy of attack on the Death Penalty.
Kevorkian, 79,..."
Mr. KeCORPSEian might consider the fact that he has very few years left before he must stand before this so-called "FAKE" God we peoons all worship in blind ignorance...
Hope he's ready...
Kevorkian, 79,..."
Mr. KeCORPSEian might consider the fact that he has very few years left before he must stand before this so-called "FAKE" God we peons all worship in blind ignorance...
Hope he's ready...
sorry for the double post
Twain dropped dead of a heart attack.
George V
George V was murdered. He didn't even consent to Dawson's murdering him and his family was not informed by Dawson that he intended to murder the King.
Until Dawson died and his diaries became public, the royal family believed Dawson's lying tale that the King had succumbed to his illness.
Had Dawson's true actions been known, he would have been justly hung for treason.
Yep, there you have it.
I’d like to see a piano fall out of nowhere and crush this bastard.
His mind is going. Maybe it’s time for the hemlock to do its thing.
“I’d like to see a piano fall out of nowhere and crush this bastard.”
You kidding me? It would miss him since he is so scrawny and gaunt.
He would go right threw a crack unscathed.
He is a spiritually sick man. But the not-so-even-handed write up sure rubbed it in that there was a big crowd with lots of Dr. K sympathizers.
Kevorkian digressed into an attack on Catholic doctors, the Hippocratic oath and religion.
Why do I get the feeling that 'dr' Kevorkian is related to this guy....
Dr. Josef Mengele 
At the least, they must be 2nd cousins.
OK, you choose your physician - Catholic Doctors whose religion tells them all life is a gift from God, or someone nicknamed “Dr. Death.” Hmmmmmm
Dr. Mengele was more of a kindly Dr. Marcus Welby type in manner. Kevorkian seems like Dr. Death even on the outside.
The point is that doctors aspire in bedside manner to be kindly and caring professionals. Dr. Jack aspires to be a ghoul.
True love is shown in the poem “Do not go gentle into that good night”. In which a dying father is asked to fight on even though it is good on the other side. These “quality-of-lifers” say on the other hand, “it troubles me to look upon such suffering so off with you”.
Christians should not fear death but should still fight for that last breath and try to take another. Life has a spiritual value and should not be surrendered lightly.
I could be wrong, but I thought the terms of Kevorkian’s early release were that he wasn’t supposed to murder anyone else, and he wasn’t supposed to run around drumming up support for others to euthanize their fellow citizens.
How sad, he's got a burned out hole where his soul should be.
Jack’s back and just a moronic as ever.
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