To some Kevorkian became a hero; others however call his actions a moral outrage. Kevorkian helped kill someone whom he met for the first time two days earlier-Janet Adkins. After explaining his machine to Adkins over dinner, he apparently decided that she was competent to make the choice to kill herself. Arthur Caplan, the director of the Center for Biomedical Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania said: “Kevorkian is a pathologist, not a psychologist or a psychiatrist. He has limited experience in dealing with living patients. His stock in trade was examining dead ones. Could he really be confident that Janet Adkins wanted to die based upon two days of personal contact and one dinner conversation?” Although Caplan's accusation may seem too extreme, we will never know what really happened. The suspicious part of this case is that Adkins died through hanging herself and Kevorkian assisted her. That is a step away from “traditional” euthanasia, which is normally done through lethal injection, or orally. Many raised the question why she did not kill herself by taking sleeping pills. On the other hand Adkins's choice is understandable: What could be more devastating than to try to end one's life, and awake to find one had failed? Is Jack Kevorkian a killer or a rescuer? Maybe he is just one of us-ordinary people, who do not philosophize about euthanasia on paper, but have to make this choice in life. According to Kevorkian euthanasia is a matter of personal choice.

This brings us to another question: should euthanasia be legalized? The proponents believe that if euthanasia will be legalized, the first generation after legalization might still feel some powerful moral sentiments against killing in this context, because they were raised to think so. This might tend to hold down the numbers of supporters at first. But tree or four generations later, Americans might come to see this as the way to die. As an example they use a reform, passed by the government in Netherlands. This country has the most advanced outlook on euthanasia. Though “active medical intervention to cut short life, at the express request of the patient,” remains a crime, doctors who commit that crime are guaranteed immunity-as long as they follow certain rules. In her article A Dozen Caveats Concerning the Discussion of Euthanasia in the Netherlands, Margaret P. Battin writes: "Many American observers of the Dutch practice of euthanasia are tempted to claim that euthanasia is legal in Holland; others insist that it is not. Both are right-but only partly so. Killing at the request of the person killed as well as assistance in suicide remain crimes under the Dutch penal code, punishable by imprisonment; however…when euthanasia is performed in accord with a set of guidelines it may be defended under a plea of force majeure and so is reasonably sure of not being prosecuted"(89). As seen from this article, Dutch legislature took an alternate root: it did not fully legalize euthanasia, but did not banish it either. “Another benefit of legal aid in dying is to relieve fear. There is no evidence to suggest that most patients, given the opportunity to end their lives, wouldn't. But knowing they have the option would be merciful in itself.”- Writes Betty Rollin, a correspondent to NBC News (245). She is on the people who went through the euthanasia experience. Her mother had an ovarian cancer and wanted her suffering to be over. With the help of Betty and her husband her wish came true. The fact that Betty assisted in her mother's death does not make her a murderer; she actually proved her love to her mother by ending her pain. Betty Rollin is one of those people who support the idea of individual choice.

On the other hand euthanasia is not contrary to Judeo-Christian beliefs. Jewish tradition teaches us that life and death are not passive, but active categories. One of the most quoted passages from Hebrew Scriptures is Deuteronomy: “I have set b

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