Jack Kevorkian, Doctor Death

Wesley J Smith, author and leading campaigner against assisted suicide, says the media fawned over him and failed to see the damage he wrought.

“I think his more important place in contemporary history was as a dark mirror that reflected how powerful the avoidance of suffering has become as a driving force in society, and indeed, how that excuse seems to justify nearly any excess.”

Kevorkian was prophetic in calling for the creation of euthanasia clinics, which now exist in Switzerland, says Smith.

“Time will tell whether Kevorkian will be remembered merely as a kook who captured the temporary zeitgeist of the times.

“Or whether he was a harbinger of a society that, in the words of Canadian journalist Andrew Coyne, ‘believes in nothing [and] can offer no argument even against death’.”