Psychosocial Versus Biomedical Risk Factors in Kevorkian’s First Forty-Seven Physician-Assisted Deaths

This article examines biomedical & psychosocial data on the first 47 cases of physician-assisted suicide by Kevorkian. Some findings include: the physical conditions of these patients was not typical of the conditions that lead to death in the USA; only 31.1 percent of patients were terminal. 36% were described as depressed, 66% as having some disability & 90% expressed a fear of dependency. Pilot data suggest the possibility of a large gender difference as most of the patients were women.