The guy known as “Dr. Death,” Jack Kevorkian, passed away today in Detroit, and now I really want to watch ‘You Don’t Know Jack.’ I actually wanted to see it last year when it was scoring all sorts of nominations and awards, but didn’t get to it. I’m sure it’s still available On Demand, so I’ll check it out.
The Barry Levinson-directed film examines the life of the doctor-assisted suicide advocate, with Al Pacino in the starring role. Brenda Vaccaro, John Goodman, Todd Susman, James Urbaniak, Danny Huston and Susan Sarandon also star. You can’t get much better than that.
I’m not sure how I feel about the whole doctor-assisted-suicide issue. In one way, I can see how there would be a place for it. Say a person is getting up there and has multiple health issues and is just lying in a hospital bed waiting to die. Maybe they don’t want to be a burden to their loved ones. Maybe they’d rather die with dignity than linger on as everyone else goes about their lives.
On the other hand, I’ve seen some miraculous recoveries of people who the doctors have counted out. And we’ve all heard stories about folks with serious diseases who’ve defied the odds and gone on to do great things and help others. So it’s definitely a hot topic with two sides to the story.
I keep thinking of the ending to Clint Eastwood’s heartbreaking movie ‘[amazon_link id=”B000JUB7LM” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Million Dollar Baby[/amazon_link].’ If you haven’t seen it, I won’t spoil it. Let’s just say it was depressing and raised all sorts of questions on what’s right and wrong.
Have you seen ‘You Don’t Know Jack’? Would you recommend it? And how do you feel about doctor-assisted suicide?
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