S5 Ep7: Jack Kevorkian: Dr. Death or Champion of Choice?

Crimes of the Centuries

Amber Hunt and Audioboom

True Crime, Documentary, Society & Culture, History

4.6 • 3.8K Ratings

🗓️ 14 April 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the 1990s, Dr. Jack Kevorkian ignited a firestorm when he began helping to end the lives of people who said they were terminally ill. Over the years, he claimed to have assisted in the deaths of more than 130 people, all while challenging police and prosecutors who vowed to stop him. His first four trials ended in three acquittals and a mistrial, but as his antics grew more daring, so, too, did the legal system's fervor to put him behind bars. His legacy is divisive, but few can argue that he single-handedly forced America to confront its stance on physician-assisted suicide.

"Crimes of the Centuries" is a podcast from Grab Bag Collab exploring forgotten crimes from times past that made a mark and helped change history. You can get early and ad-free episodes on the Grab Bag Patreon page.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Some crimes are so heartbreaking or shocking, they change laws, change society, or even
0:12.4	earn the label, Crime of the Century. But the stories that made headlines and decades past
0:18.9	aren't necessarily remembered today.
0:22.6	I'm Amber Hunt, a journalist and author, and in each episode of this show,
0:26.8	I'll examine a case that's maybe lesser known today, but was huge when it happened.
0:33.9	This is Crimes of the Centuries.
0:50.3	Thank you. This is Crimes of the Centuries. Between 1990 and 1993, he helped cause the death of 130 people.
0:57.4	For one of those, he didn't just help, he outright pulled the metaphorical trigger.
1:02.6	I did, but it could be manslaughter, not murder.
1:05.2	It's not necessarily murder.
1:06.6	But it doesn't bother me what you call it.
1:08.8	I know what it is.
1:09.8	This could never be a crime in any society which deems itself enlightened.
1:15.6	Murder.
1:16.4	Such an ugly word.
1:18.4	A gross exaggeration, he would say, made by a society that is afraid of what living means.
1:25.4	It means you die.
1:27.3	An enlightened society would, he argued, believe when and how
1:31.5	and where you die should be your choice. Not that Jack Cvorican was advocating rampant suicide.
1:39.2	The doctors simply believed that if you were in pain, you could not escape, and if medical
1:44.0	professionals offered
1:45.2	you little hope for a more bearable future, you should be able to ask and get help in ending
	...

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