YOU DON'T KNOW JACK {LETTERBOX} (TV)
Summary
A film about the life of Jack Kevorkian and his controversial practice of physician-assisted suicide.
Distressed by the plight of terminally ill medical patients living in extreme pain, Jack Kevorkian decides to offer physician-assisted suicide to such patients after reading about legalized euthanasia in Europe. Aided by his friend, a medical supplier named Neal Nicol, and his sister Margo Janus, Kevorkian constructs a machine he calls a “Mercitron” to allow terminally ill patients to commit suicide. He learns of a quadriplegic man being kept alive against his will and attempts to allow the man to use the Mercitron, but the attending doctors expel him from the hospital. The man is taken off life support a few months later; Kevorkian does not approve of this method.
Kevorkian’s comments about the case are reported by newspaper reporter Jack Lessenberry; his story soon gains national attention when he is featured in Newsweek magazine, encouraging him further. In 1990, Kevorkian has a filmed consultation with a woman named Janet Adkins, suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease. Mrs. Adkins asks for Kevorkian to assist in her suicide, and Kevorkian searches for a location to perform the procedure. He meets with Janet Good, a member of an organization called the Hemlock Society which advocates physician-assisted suicide, and she allows her home to be used as the location. However, she changes her mind at the last minute and Kevorkian is forced to perform the procedure in the middle of a park out of the back of his van with Margo’s assistance. Janet Adkins takes her own life and the police learn of the procedure, briefly taking Kevorkian into custody.
Despite his release, the police are still keeping an eye on Kevorkian. Kevorkian and Margo go to see Geoffrey Fieger, a defense attorney. Fieger offers to take Kevorkian’s case for free, believing the right for a patient to choose death to be a civil rights matter. Lessenberry offers Kevorkian an appearance on an early morning radio show, where he offers his opinions on patient self-determination and humane medical procedures.
Later, he is visited by Good, who apologizes for barring him from her home. They talk and she recommends creating a set of guidelines by which his work can continue, such as creating a strict definition of “terminally ill” and laying ground rules as to when physician-assisted suicide is appropriate. She also talks of how her mother suffered for a long period in a nursing home before she died, prompting her interest in the topic of euthanasia. When Good asks if Kevorkian had a similar experience, he avoids answering the question.
Kevorkian’s next patients are Sherry Miller and Marjorie Wantz, suffering from multiple sclerosis and sever pelvic pain respectively. He assists their suicides and is soon thereafter apprehended by the police. As Kevorkian is being taken into custody, Fieger makes a public statement defending him and dares Oakland County prosecutor Richard Thompson to charge Kevorkian as a criminal. Kevorkian is imprisoned for three days until Fieger pays his bail. Fieger informs him that the state of Michigan has revoked his medical license. Later, Kevorkian is interviewed by Barbara Walters and pleads his case on national television.
In 1992, Kevorkian is to be put on trial for assisted suicide, but the case is dismissed because assisted suicide is not considered a crime. However, Kevorkian’s loss of his license means he will not have legal access to the substances required for euthanasia. The police raid one of Kevorkian’s interviews with a terminally ill woman. Despite his lack of a medical license, Kevorkian still carries out the procedure.
Kevorkian’s storage facility is cordoned off by the police. He discovers that they found it due to a traced check written by his sister Margo’s daughter. They have a fight and Margo angrily storms off. Margo is fired from her job due to her association with Kevorkian, and she returns to try and make amends with him. She finds that Kevorkian is selling his building. Protestors arrive to picket Kevorkian; he and Margo argue with them before driving away. At a dinner at Fieger’s house, Kevorkian learns that John Engler, Governor of Michigan, is signing a ban on physician-assisted suicide, which would make it a felony.
In early 1993, Neal manages to recover some of Kevorkian’s equipment. While performing euthanasia on a man named Hugh Gale, Kevorkian drapes a plastic sheet over him to recapture some of his spent gas. However, this causes great discomfort for Mr. Gale, and so Kevorkian removes the sheet and completes the procedure without it. Neal is distressed by the incident, but Kevorkian is adamant that he is making the right decisions.
One of the picketers protesting Kevorkian’s actions searches through his garbage and finds the report on Gale’s euthanasia, wherein Kevorkian reworded the report and caused a discrepancy with Neal’s report. The picketer takes this to the police, where Thompson seizes upon it as evidence that Kevorkian committed a murder, and an indictment is held. They hold a formal inquest wherein Neal testifies on Kevorkian’s behalf. Gale’s widow offers an emotional testimony conveying her husband’s desperate desire to die; this convinces the police to drop their charges for the moment.
Kevorkian’s fame grows; he is featured on the cover of Time magazine. At a party where Kevorkian’s paintings are being displayed, Margo reveals to Good details about his life, including his fear of stories from his parents, survivors of the Armenian Holocaust. One night, Kevorkian is informed that Margo suffered a heart attack and died. He refuses to see her body in the morgue, and is clearly shaken by her passing.
Governor Engler signs the ban on physician-assisted suicide and Kevorkian moves into a new building owned by Fiegler. Kevorkian is determined to challenge the new law. He administers euthanasia to Thomas Hyde, a 30-year old man suffering from Lou Gehrig’s disease. In the ensuing trial, Kevorkian is held in prison with a $50,000 bail; he finds this sum outrageous and goes on a hunger strike in his cell. After 19 days in prison, his bail is reduced to $100 and is paid. In the Hyde case, Kevorkian is declared not guilty. The ban is still in effect, but is being appealed.
Kevorkian tries to open his own euthanasia clinic, the “Margo Janus Mercy Clinic,” but is evicted after assisting his first patient. Good tells Kevorkian that she’s been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Fieger informs him that the court of appeals ruled in his favor, but also ruled that there is no constitutional right to commit suicide under common law. Prosecutors want to retry Kevorkian for the suicides of Wantz and Miller due to the new common law findings, but Kevorkian protests this by arriving to the courthouse in stocks and chains, protesting what he feels are archaic and illogical laws. During the trial he is uncooperative and combative before walking away. Fieger is able to win the case based on Kevorkian’s video recordings of his patients. Kevorkian is determined to one day bring his case to the Supreme Court. Fieger decides to run for Governor of Michigan. David Gorcyca replaces Richard Thompson as Oakland County prosecutor, and promises not to prosecute Kevorkian so harshly.
Fieger announces on television that he does not support physician-assisted suicide despite his relation with Kevorkian. Kevorkian continues his work into 1997. Good is finally prepared for her death and has Kevorkian administer euthanasia. Before she dies, she gets Kevorkian to open up about the death of his mother and his feelings of helplessness. Kevorkian once again asks for Fieger to take his case to the Supreme Court, but he cannot unless it concerns a patient who is especially suffering. He finds one: Thomas Youk, a 52-year old man suffering from Lou Gehrig’s disease. Neal view’s Youk’s tape and says he can no longer help Kevorkian. Kevorkian administers euthanasia to Youk and films it, sending it to “60 Minutes.”
Youk’s death is broadcast nationally, and Gorcyca vows to prosecute Kevorkian. Kevorkian informs Fieger that he will be representing himself in his trial, and that he is still determined to take his case to the Supreme Court. Gorcyca plans to drop the charges of assisted suicide against Kevorkian, leaving only the murder charge, which means Kevorkian cannot use Youk’s family as witnesses. The trial begins and public opinion is sharply divided about Kevorkian. As the trial commences, it is clear that Kevorkian’s lack of legal experience is severely hindering his progress, making it difficult for him to present his case. When Kevorkian tries to bring Youk’s family up to the stand, he is prevented from doing so. Mrs. Youk still gets to testify in a special report outside the witness of the jury. Kevorkian proclaims that he would rather die than be prevented from rendering a medical service. Despite this plea, the judge deems Mrs. Youk’s testimony irrelevant.
Fieger arrives but Kevorkian will not let him help. He refuses to take the stand in his own defense and rests his case. Remarks in the prosecution’s closing statement comparing Kevorkian’s actions to the Holocaust prompt outrage from him, disrupting the court. The jury finds him guilty of murder and he is sentenced to 10-25 years in prison. The judge reprimands Kevorkian for defying the law, but predicts that the issue of physician-assisted suicide will continue long after his imprisonment. The epilogue notes that Kevorkian served eight and a half years in prison and was released in 2007. The Supreme Court never heard his case.
Details
- NETWORK: HBO
- DATE: April 24, 2010 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 2:14:25
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 104008
- GENRE: Docudrama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Docudrama
- SERIES RUN: N/A
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Barry Levinson … Executive Producer, Director
- Steve Lee Jones … Executive Producer
- Glenn Rigberg … Executive Producer
- Lydia Dean Pincher … Executive Producer
- Tom Fontana … Executive Producer
- Scott Ferguson … Producer
- Drew Gallagher … Associate Producer
- Troy Powers … Associate Producer
- Stephen Markey III … Associate Producer
- Adam Mazer … Writer
- Neal Nicol … Based on the book "Between the Dying and the Dead" by
- Harry Wylie … Based on the book "Between the Dying and the Dead" by
- Marcelo Zavros … Composer
- Al Pacino … Cast, Jack Kevorkian
- Susan Sarandon … Cast, Janet Good
- Danny Huston … Cast, Geoffrey Fieger
- Brenda Vaccaro … Cast, Margo Janus
- John Goodman … Cast, Neal Nicol
- Cotter Smith … Cast, Dick Thompson
- James Urbaniak … Cast, Jack Lessenberry
- David Wilson Barnes … Cast, David Gorcyca
- Ana Reeder … Cast, Lynn Mills
- Sandra Seacat … Cast, Janet Adkins
- Adam Mucci … Cast, Dave Gorosh
- Eric Lange … Cast, John Skrzynsky
- Deborah Hedwall … Cast, Melody Youk
- Rondi Reed … Cast, Judge Cooper
- Deidre O'Connell … Cast, Linda
- Todd Sussman … Cast, Stan Levy
- Adam Lubarsky … Cast, Brian Russell
- Jennifer Mudge … Cast, Female Reporter
- Jeremy Bobb … Cast, David Rivlin
- Rutanya Alda … Cast, Vendor
- Henry Russell … Cast, Oakhill Spokesperson
- Henry Strozier … Cast, Oakhill Doctor
- Neal Brooks Cunningham … Cast, Ron Adkins
- Logan Crawford … Cast, Bob Bender
- John Rue … Cast, Ray Good
- Allen Lewis Rickman … Cast, Dr. Dragovic
- Kris Eivers … Cast, Deputy
- Thomas Piper … Cast, Local News Anchor
- Donna Basilio … Cast, Fieger's Secretary
- Richard Council … Cast, Judge David Breck
- Delaney Williams … Cast, Detective
- Jason Babinsky … Cast, Detective
- Teresa Yenque … Cast, Isabel Correa
- Jaime Tirelli … Cast, Trino Correa
- John Henry Cox … Cast, Mr. Kinsey
- Adam Driver … Cast, Glen Stetson
- Annie Murray … Cast, Myra Bayless
- Angela Pierce … Cast, Keenie
- Jonathan Teague Cook … Cast, Hugh Gale
- Jacqueline Knapp … Cast, Mrs. Gale
- Tom Kemp … Cast, Carl Marlinga
- Jordan Lage … Cast, Beaumont Doctor
- Mason Pettit … Cast, Construction Worker
- Daryl Edwards … Cast, Judge Jackson
- Daniel Marcus … Cast, Landlord
- William Spencer … Cast, Male Reporter
- Michael Ingram … Cast, Mayor Morganroth
- Meghan Rafferty … Cast, Female Reporter
- Mary Boyer … Cast, Lois Hawes
- Kam Carman … Cast, Female Reporter
- Christina Grybel … Cast, On-the-Street Interviewee
- Bill Edwards … Cast, On-the-Street Interviewee
- Sundari … Cast, On-the-Street Interviewee
- Daniel Lang … Cast, On-the-Street Interviewee
- Johnnie C. Ray … Cast, On-the-Street Interviewee
- Chris McGinn … Cast, Foreman