Dealing With "Death"
Wallace said " . . . Doctor Death, as he is known . . .". Known by whom? The media? The National Review? Other right-wingers? Exactly by whom, Mike Wallace?Let me start by addressing the first part of this complaint: Kevorkian is clearly known by more than just the National Review and "other right wingers" as "Dr. Death," as a quick Google News search will confirm. The nickname has been used by countless media outlets, and has in fact become somewhat synonymous with Kevorkian.If Wallace respects the doctor so much, let him omit pejorative references to this hero. Kevorkian doesn't deserve to be referred to in such a sneering way…
It's tough to figure out who coined the nickname – many media outlets seem to think it arose late in his career, from the fact that he "left bodies at hospital emergency rooms and motels and videotaped a death that was broadcast on CBS' '60 Minutes' news magazine show." But the nickname seems to go back further – to 1956, in fact. According to Answers.com, "Kevorkian initially received his macabre nickname, 'Dr. Death,' for his pioneering medical experiments in the 1950's. He photographed the eyes of dying patients in order to determine the exact time of death."
As for the notion that the nickname is pejorative, that's up for debate. I tend to think of "death" as a pretty neutral term, lacking a value judgment – unlike, say, "murder." I also suspect that Kevorkian, who went out of his way to publicize the notion of doctor assisted suicide, might not have such a problem with the nickname. I did not come across any instances of him contesting it.
A copy editor here at CBSNews.com, who also objects to the name "Dr. Death," asked me why we didn't just use "Dr. Kevorkian" in our headline. I may not feel that "Dr. Death" is pejorative, he argued, but some people do, so why not just use the man's name? My argument is this: "Dr. Death" is a snappy, dramatic nickname that draws people's attention and helps them immediately recognize the topic of the post, even if they've forgotten the name of the doctor at the center of the assisted suicide debate. Since I don't think that "death," used in this context, is pejorative, I think it's defensible – and even advisable – to run the nickname in a headline.