Ethics: Dr. Death's Suicide

Machine An ailing teacher's last decision inflames the euthanasia debate

In a rusting old van in a public campground 2,000 miles away from her home, Janet Adkins faced death last week. It took the form of an odd-looking contraption made mostly of three dripping bottles, the invention of a Detroit doctor named Jack Kevorkian. As Adkins settled down on a small cot, she was attended by Kevorkian. He hooked her up to a heart monitor, slid an intravenous needle into her arm and started a harmless saline solution flowing through the tube. Then he sat back and watched the monitor as she pushed a big red button at the base of...

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