This was no wayward, loose cannon of a doctor (Kevorkian) acting on impulse.)

That is rather what I suspected, and that's what makes it really pretty worrying. There is a history to this pattern of medical ethics in the States. It is not all that many years since medical ethics in the USA included a whole range of approved procedures now universally recognised as unethical. Just type "Eugenics + USA" in Google and see what comes up.

I would doubt if there are many ethics committees that would approve this particular set of procedures, at any rate in other parts of the world.