A Physician Ahead of Our Time: RIP Dr. Jack Kevorkian

"No man who is occupied in doing a very difficult thing, and doing it very well, ever loses his self-respect." - from George Bernard Shaw

even from a young age, i always thought doctors were hardcore...so hardcore that i knew i could never be able to make it through med school...so i wrote off that possibility pretty early on in my life. one of the most hardcore of the hardcore physicians i had ever learned about, and wish i had had the privilege to know, is Dr. Jack Kevorkian, who passed away on Friday 3 June 2011, reportedly listening to Bach. (i wonder, which piece it was... !!?)

if you know me, you know i'm pretty good at placing high expectations on people, especially those who serve others. why shouldn't i, and why shouldn't they have high expectations of themselves? this is why i was blown away by every detail i ever learned about Dr. Kevorkian, from his interest in transfusing blood from dead to live soldiers in the field, and his photography of patients' eyes to determine the exact moment of death, to his fantastic artwork, and finally his most recent battles with U.S. society regarding euthanasia. he had a lot of vision and dared to consider ideas and ask questions which i feel were mistaken as morbid, inappropriate and bordering on human vivisection. if anything, Dr. Jack was a pretty astute publicity and PR user, and i think he should've been nicknamed 'Dr. Dying' and not 'Dr. Death'.

btw i woke up late and i gotta go to work for an hour or so so i will post reference links later...