American Pharmacists Association: Assisting Executions ​“Fundamentally Contrary to the Role of Pharmacists”

On March 30, the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) adopted a resolution discouraging pharmacist participation in executions. The House of Delegates of the 62,000 member organization passed the policy, which states, “The American Pharmacists Association discourages pharmacist participation in executions on the basis that such activities are fundamentally contrary to the role of pharmacists as providers of health care.” William Fassett, professor emeritus of pharmacotherapy at Washington State University, drafted the policy and said that the policy only became necessary in the last few years as major pharmaceutical companies have blocked the use of their products in executions and states have turned to pharmacies to obtain lethal injection drugs. Fassett said, “It’s never been legal in the U.S. to write a prescription to execute a person. The basic federal law is that a prescription is to be used for medical proposes in the context of an established patient-physician relationship.” Thomas E. Menighan, Executive Vice President and CEO of the APhA, said, “Pharmacists are health care providers and pharmacist participation in executions conflicts with the profession’s role on the patient health care team. This new policy aligns APhA with the execution policies of other major health care associations including the American Medical Association, the American Nurses Association and the American Board of Anesthesiology.” The International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists adopted a similar resolution last week, stating, “While the pharmacy profession recognizes an individual practitioner’s right to determine whether to dispense a medication based upon his or her personal, ethical and religious beliefs, IACP discourages its members from participating in the preparation, dispensing, or distribution of compounded medications for use in legally authorized executions.”

(K. Bellware, “American Pharmacists Association Discourages Members From Providing Lethal Injection Drugs,” Huffington Post, March 31, 2015.) Read the American Pharmacists Association press release on the resolution. See Lethal Injection.