Raven Birk

10/06/14

Journal Research 2

The Washington Post: Lethal Injections, a history of bungled executions.

Summarize: there is a long history in many states of the lethal injection being badly administered and therefore painful to the convict making their death a cruel and unusual punishment.  This is often because of simple medical mistakes while administering the drug.  Physicians are not allowed to assist in executions because it's in direct opposition with their oaths. However, executioners are poorly trained to administer the drug and this sometimes results in a very badly botched execution. Also on a side-note, it is becoming more difficult for the states to get the serums needed to kill the convicts and therefore they have to try new concoctions to kill people.

Synthesis: this is a little bit contradictory to the first article because that one had physicians involved in the lethal injection process while this article claims that they are not allowed to participate anywhere. Therefore these articles question the integrity of the other. However both seem to make it clear that physician involvement is almost necessary to make this punishment a safe practice that does not end up as cruel and unusual punishment.

Critical thinking: is there any way to get someone with enough training in there to at minimum oversee if not administer the drug so that the penalty can be carried out smoothly and in confidence? A poor administration of these drugs are definitely a cruel and unusual punishment. If one man begged for a firing squad over the lethal injection, then there must be enough things wrong with it and or its administration to make this a very questionable method of killing someone.   When convicts start begging for a different method of execution other than the lethal injection, is that a sign that it maybe isn't as humane? Someone literally wanting the firing squad over the lethal injection. Other options would have been hanging or electrocution in the chair, however none of these methods are implemented in US anymore aside from the lethal injection.  Doctors or other kinds of medical personnel would have ease administering the lethal injection, it would bring ease to everyone involved if doctors could except for the doctors themselves.   Oh the other hand though since it's a central part of the oath, if a doctor helped out with an execution, they will have stuck their foot in that door and then what's stopping them from administering lethal injections to patients who wish to die? While I don't really think that would be so awful, it is indeed rather unethical and implications of this would bring much less ease to the patients of that doctor, affecting their medical practice.

Questions and Planning: How much different would the medical world be if doctors did help with executions? Would there really be much of an effect? Are the lethal injections really that unethical if even the messed up ones still cause death within ten minutes or are those last ten minutes on earth such a horror that it could be considered torture? Should doctors be allowed to train executioners? Next I need to look into the history of lethal injections and see how doctors used to be involved (because my first article tells me that there used to indeed be involvement) and when/ why that all changed. Also check out if there are any court cases about these executions gone wrong.