3 ms·

Although I'm a fan of 'Google it yourself' here is the first result from Google https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participation_of_medical_professionals_in_America

Although I'm a fan of 'Google it yourself' here is the first result from Google https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participation_of_medical_professionals_in_American_executions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participation_of_medical_profe... I'm sure with a little effort you can find better ones should you be interested in that topic.

throwanem 10y ago
I've never been quite sure that the ethical question here is as firmly settled as the organizations cited first in that article consider it to be. Is it ethical to refuse to participate in lethal injection, knowing that the result will be an execution instead performed by electric chair, or gas chamber, or hanging, or firing squad? Each of these methods is employed as an alternative to lethal injection by at least one US state, and I don't think any of them can reasonably be considered equally humane. Is it ethical to refuse participation knowing that the likely outcome is replacement of lethal injection with a less humane method of execution, as The Atlantic suggests [1] may already be underway? The gas chamber and the electric chair, in particular, amount to death by torture. Is it ethical to consign someone to such a fate in order to keep one's own hands clean? [1] http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/03/gas-chambers-electric-chairs-and-firing-squads/387706/ http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/03/gas-cham...
- AlexandrB 10y ago
  Lethal injection is not humane[1]. There's evidence that the person being executed suffers tremendously but can't express it due to the use of paralytics as part of the "cocktail". I'd rather get the guillotine. [1] http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/death-penalty/lethal-injection http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/death-penalty/leth...
  - throwanem 10y ago
    That sounds at least as much like a reason to replace the (IMO unnecessarily overcomplicated) "cocktail" as it does a reason to replace the method. I've never particularly understood why they use anything other than a large overdose of some strong opiate like morphine or fentanyl.

throwanem 10y ago

I've never been quite sure that the ethical question here is as firmly settled as the organizations cited first in that article consider it to be. Is it ethical to refuse to participate in lethal injection, knowing that the result will be an execution instead performed by electric chair, or gas chamber, or hanging, or firing squad? Each of these methods is employed as an alternative to lethal injection by at least one US state, and I don't think any of them can reasonably be considered equally humane. Is it ethical to refuse participation knowing that the likely outcome is replacement of lethal injection with a less humane method of execution, as The Atlantic suggests [1] may already be underway? The gas chamber and the electric chair, in particular, amount to death by torture. Is it ethical to consign someone to such a fate in order to keep one's own hands clean? [1] http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/03/gas-chambers-electric-chairs-and-firing-squads/387706/ http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/03/gas-cham...

AlexandrB 10y ago
Lethal injection is not humane[1]. There's evidence that the person being executed suffers tremendously but can't express it due to the use of paralytics as part of the "cocktail". I'd rather get the guillotine. [1] http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/death-penalty/lethal-injection http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/death-penalty/leth...
- throwanem 10y ago
  That sounds at least as much like a reason to replace the (IMO unnecessarily overcomplicated) "cocktail" as it does a reason to replace the method. I've never particularly understood why they use anything other than a large overdose of some strong opiate like morphine or fentanyl.