Ethical decisions are made by terminally ill patients as they face death. Some choose to end their lives through PAS, physician-assisted suicide. Dr. Jack Kevorkian helps patients end their lives using his machines. Public opinion considers using this machine to be murder, but some have changed their minds and created laws to legalize a doctor helping a terminally ill patient die. Physician-assisted suicide is a dignified way to end life.Dr. Kevorkian, a pathologist born in 1928, was known for his campaign on behalf of the terminally ill and their rights to assisted suicide. He built a machine from household parts, including tools, toy parts, and other items easily found around the house or at the local hardware store. This machine was called Thanatron, a Greek word meaning deadly machine. He designed it with patient comfort in mind. They could use this machine at home. The total cost of the machine was $45.00. (Gibbs, McBride-Mellinger, 69; PBS.org, web). This machine used an intravenous drip that was connected to the patient. The IV would start flowing saline. When the patient was ready, they would press a button and this solution would stop flowing. At that point, the machine released a drug called thiopental, better known as sodium pentothal, a general anesthetic for sixty seconds. After that, the patient would be in a coma. A timer would stop the first medication and release the next one called potassium chloride. This medicine will cause a heart attack and the patient will die in their sleep. (Gibbs, McBride-Mellinger; PBS.org. Once Dr. Kevorkian could no longer obtain the medications needed to use this machine, he began using a machine called Mer...... middle of paper ... ... Web March 20, 2012Worldrtd.net “United States: with Montana, the three states now provide legal aid in dying” Np nd Web 24 MPbs.org “Thanatron” Np nd Web” Santa Clara University March 24, 2012Jackson Nicholas “Jack Kevorkina's Death Truck and the Technology of Assisted Suicide” March 23, 2010Braddok III Clarence H. MD MPH Medical Assistance in Dying: Ethical Topics” and School of Medicine. University of Washington, Death with Dignity Act » Np and University of Washington Department of Bioethics and Humanities 2009 web March 24, 20122010, Web March 24, 2012Knaplund Kristine S « Montana becomes third US state to license doctors and people to die” n .dPepperdine University Law School, March 24, 2012Starks Helene, “Washington