Conservatism is usually a noble path, especially when we consider the harm that we can do. Secrecy, too, is usually a virtue that protects the vulnerable patient. But doctors see injustice every day from patients suffering pain unnecessarily to those who cannot afford doctors' care to those who are sick due solely to the ills of society. The BMJ puts him in a long line of heroes who have been reviled in their time. To be a hero, it says, means being honest with yourself and acting on your own morality, risking the fall from the pinnacle on which society has placed doctors.
Medicine needs heroes today.
Years before he reached national prominence around 1990, Kevorkian was known in medical ethics circles for his curious beliefs regarding death and dying. Kevorkian had widespread support from prisoners on death row, many of whom saw his plans as a way to leave some lasting good after a life of crime. Kevorkian remains fairly neutral on the morality of capital punishment, but has written at length exposing the inhumanity of many methods of execution. In 1961 Time magazine ran an article on his proposal toexsanguinate dead bodies and use the blood intransfusions. Critics say such proposals show that Kevorkian is obsessed with death.