An Evening with Dr. Jack Kevorkian at UCLA

LOS ANGELES, CA — Dr. Jack Kevorkian, one of America’s most prominent physicians, and widely considered a leading expert on Euthanasia, will be the guest of honor at a lecture at University of California, Los Angeles’s Royce Hall on Saturday, January 15, 2011 at 7:00 PM.
The event, hosted by the Armenian Students’ Association at UCLA (ASA) in collaboration with the Armenian-American Medical Society of California (AAMSC), will include a lecture, audience discussion and private reception at UCLA, one of the country’s top academic and research institutions.
The event will be moderated by UCLA alumnus and former Foreign Minister of the Republic of Armenia, Dr. Raffi Hovannisian.
Since the 1950s, because of Dr. Kevorkian’s interest as a pathologist in determining the time of a patient’s death, he was dubbed by colleagues “Dr. Death,” a name later picked up by the media in the 1990s.
Topics to be discussed include his childhood in Pontiac, Michigan; his parents’ experience as survivors of the Armenian Genocide of 1915; and his life after his prison release.
Kevorkian, a world renowned pathologist and controversial advocate and practitioner of physician-assisted suicide, who says he has assisted in more than 130 suicides, was tried five times for assisted suicide in the 1990s. It was only in his last trial in 1999 that the prosecution dropped the assisted suicide charge and charged him with murder. The trial resulted with Kevorkian being convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 10 to 25 years in prison for assisting in the suicide of a man in the final stages of ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis). Kevorkian was denied parole in 2005 but released on parole in June 2007 for poor health after serving 8 years in prison.
Kevorkian, believes in the fundamental right of an individual to make end-of-life decisions. Following his prison release, Kevorkian said he would abstain from assisting any more terminal patients with death, and his role in the matter would strictly be to persuade states to change their laws on assisted suicide. At the time of Kevorkian’s release, Oregon was the only state to legally permit doctor-assisted suicide; Montana and Washington state have since legalized it as well. He has travelled throughout the US lecturing at Universities and appearing on numerous television news programs.
In 2008, Kevorkian ran for Michigan’s 9th Congressional seat as an independent. He came in third place and received 2.6% of the vote.
UCLA’s ASA president Nina Babaian says, “We’re honored to have Dr. Kevorkian attend the lecture in person and discuss the issues to which he has dedicated his life.”
”As members of a non-profit organization with the goal of mentoring the next generation, the AAMSC is very glad to work with UCLA’s ASA on hosting Dr. Kevorkian. He has inspired and provoked much thought amongst medical professionals,” says AAMSC president Dr. Vicken Sepilian.
Kevorkian was the subject of the HBO film You Don’t Know Jack, which premiered April 24, 2010. The film was nominated for 15 Emmy Awards. Kevorkian was portrayed by Academy Award-winning actor Al Pacino who was awarded the 2010 Best Actor Emmy for his performance as Kevorkian. The film co-starred Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon and the film continues to garner award recognition from the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild, Satellite Awards, and Television Critics Association Awards.
The lecture and following question and answer period will be held at UCLA’s Royce Hall. General admission $20, and $15 for UCLA Students. Following the lecture, ASA will host a private reception for VIP ticket holders which benefits the ASA and AAMSC scholarship programs.
Saturday, January 15, 2011 7:00 PM / Doors open at 6:30 PM
Royce Hall – UCLA
UCLA Campus, Los Angeles, CA 90024 – PARKING LOT 5 (off Sunset Blvd.) 340 Royce Drive Los Angeles, CA 90095