Dr. Kevorkian was released from prison on parole after serving eight years from his ten to twenty-five year sentence served in Michigan. The Euthanasia Research and Guidance Organization (ERGO) hopes Dr. K can take pleasure in his “well-deserved retirement.” Dr. K was convicted of murder for an estimated 130 assisted deaths, but many saw it as helping a person who is suffering and enduring pain. Dr. K believes the Laws of mercy killing need to modified, and wished he had done something ahead of time. He had promised that he will not aid in anymore deaths, but will support legislative efforts for euthanasia to become legal. Today only the state of Oregon has legalized physician-assisted suicide.

Kevorkian was born in Pontiac, Michigan to Armenian-American parents. He graduated from Pontiac Central High School in 1945. He enrolled at the University of Michigan Medical School and graduated in 1952.

Most of the cases the patients themselves had the final call upon their own deaths. Dr. K helped only by attaching the patient to a device that he had constructed. The patient would push a button that released drugs or chemicals that would end their own life.

“Death machine”:

Two deaths were assisted by means of a device which delivered the euthanizing drugs mechanically through an IV. Kevorkian called it a “Thanatron.”

“Mercy machine”:

Other people were assisted by a device which employed a gas mask fed by a canister of carbon monoxide which was called “Mercitron.”