A new report released by Amnesty International, Execution by lethal injection - a quarter century of state poisoning, calls on medical professionals to refuse to participate in executions and details ongoing concerns about current lethal injection protocols that could result in inmates feeling excruciating pain during their executions. “Governments are putting doctors and nurses in an impossible position by asking them to do something that goes against their ethical oath. … Medical professionals are trained to work for patients’ well-being, not to participate in executions ordered by the state. The simplest way of resolving the ethical dilemmas posed by using doctors and nurses to kill is by abolishing the death penalty,” said Jim Welsh, Amnesty International’s Health and Human Rights coordinator.

In addition to providing a thorough review of the lethal injections issue, the report details botched executions that were not performed by trained medical personnel. It also examines the three-drug lethal injection cocktail that includes sodium pentothal (an anesthetic), pancuronium bromide (a paralytic agent), and potassium chloride (stops the heart and causes death). Almost all states use the same 3-drug combination for lethal injections. Medical professionals and organizations have raised concerns that inmates are not fully unconscious when given drugs to stop the heart and lungs, a problem that could result in excruciating pain. The inmate would not be able to indicate pain due to the second drug that paralyses the muscles. Amnesty notes that these same drugs were once used by veterinary surgeons on animals for euthanasia, but now are prohibited for use on cats and dogs because of the potential pain they might cause.

“There is a global consensus within the medical profession that the involvement of health professionals in carrying out an execution, particularly by a method using the technology and knowledge of medicine, is a breach of medical ethics; yet health professionals are participating in such executions,” Welsh stated. “Professional bodies have recently spoken strongly about this abuse of ethics.”

Amnesty reports that 1,000 people have been executed by lethal injection globally since 1982.

(Amnesty International Press Release, “World: Medical professionals break ethical oath with lethal injection, October 4, 2007). Read Amnesty International’s press release. See also Lethal Injections and Resources.

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