Important Selection from Dr. Kervorkian's Archives: From the Sale of his Estate in 2011, covering the period 1982–2007

A Selection of a Highly Important Archive

KERVORKIAN (Jack), MD:

Selection from his Archives from the Sale of his Estate, collectively dated 1982-2007.

Sold four months after his death, Dr Kervorkian's archive comprises nearly a dozen historical lots inventoried in his estate auction sale, a copy of the catalogue is likewise included:

1. 2pp. typed interviews transcript with three San Quentin death row inmates and subsequent 2pp. signed Petition of 27 Death Row Prisoners in support of execution by lethal injection as opposed to lethal gas, as the former would allow use of the prisoners' body parts for organ donation while the latter would not. (42)

2. Handwritten letters (3 sheets) from patient Joe Tushkowski to JK dealing with arrangements for an assisted suicide with Jack Kevorkian's initials and notes. (43)

3. Four typed letters from Judge Amnon Carmi, signed, of an international scientific journal MEDICINE AND LAW, with JK carbon responses (often on verso), 1985-88, dealing with their acceptance to publish Dr Kevorkian's article "Opinions on Capital Punishment, Executions and Medical Science". (44)

4. Photocopy of a manuscript letter JK interviewed in Ohio 1958 + copied letters by JK (with response) from a doctor in the Netherlands (1998) as regards procuring organ donations from the terminally ill. (45)

5. Typed letter by David P Willis, Milbank Memorial Fund (1987), signed, to JK acknowledging receipt of his paper "Exact Thinking on the Buying and Selling of Human Organs", and the difficulty in finding qualified reviewers. (47)

6. Twelve Letters of Rejection, chiefly 1982-89, to JK as regards the publication of his articles or even his advertisements offering professional services from the Journal of Medical Ethics (London), Western Journal of Medicine, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, The Lancet, a fax refusal from Michigan Bishop Don Ott, &c. (49, 50)

7. Typed Letter of Condemnation from Nobel Laureate in Biology Dr. George Wald to JK, signed, with two copies of Dr. Kevorkian's typed response. (53)

8. Four retained copies of letters JK sent 1985-91 and a press release (1998) dealing with JK's intent to assist in "rational" suicides, also with an offprint from the Canadian Med Association Journal of JK's contribution "Capital Punishment and Organ Retrieval" (1987). (54)

9. Four closely written holograph sheets (7pp.) by Jack Kevorkian listing the books he had read while in prison, with a list of famous inventions and inventors, and select quotations by famous people, on sheets on prison stationery with notes and occasional commentary by JK. (57)

10. Four sheets with neatly hand-written text by JK dated 15 September 2000 to send many people (including Justice William Rehnquist) while he is still in prison. This fully explains what he has done, what it has accomplished, and what are the Nation and World communities' responsibilities for the near-dying population of the world and their rights. (58)

Jacob "Jack" Kevorkian (May 26, 1928 – June 3, 2011), commonly known as "Dr. Death", was an American pathologist, social activist, advocate of the terminally ill, painter, author, composer and instrumentalist. He is best known for publicly championing a terminal patient's right to die via physician-assisted suicide; he claimed to have assisted at least 130 patients to that end. He famously said, "dying is not a crime". In 1999, Kevorkian was arrested and tried for his direct role in a case of voluntary euthanasia. He was convicted of second-degree murder and served eight years of a 10-to-25-year prison sentence. He was released on parole on June 1, 2007 on condition he would not offer suicide advice to any other person. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)