New Voices
,Lethal Injection
,Feb 23, 2017
In an expansion of their stance opposing nurse participation in executions, the American Nurses Association (ANA) announced on February 21, 2017 that the organization now for the first time opposes capital punishment itself. “Capital punishment is…
New Voices
,Executions Overview
,Jul 05, 2006
Dr. Orin Guidry, president of the 40,000-member American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), issued a public statement strongly urging members to “steer clear” of any participation in executions by lethal injection. In a four-page “Message from th…
New Voices
,Executions Overview
,Mar 13, 2007
Dr. Philip B. Woodhall, M.D., who practiced emergency medicine in North Carolina for many years, recently wrote about the proposed role of doctors in carrying out lethal injections. He stated that medicine and executions do not mix. “[D]octors are…
Innocence
,Mental Illness
,New Voices
,Military
,Nov 13, 2017
A former Florida death-row doctor says the experience of U.S. military veterans who have been sentenced to death provides a lens through which the public can better understand some of the failures of the state’s death penalty and …
New Voices
,Lethal Injection
,Mar 13, 2017
As U.S. pharmaceutical companies have removed medicines from the market to prevent states from obtaining them for executions, states have turned to alternatives, like the sedative midazolam. Dr. Armin Walser, who was part of the t…
History of the Death Penalty
,New Voices
,Executions Overview
,Jul 11, 2017
As a psychiatrist in the Wayne Unit of Texas’ Huntsville prison from 1960 to 1963, Dr. Lee Hartman presided over 14 electric-chair executions. When his grandson, Ben Hartman, a journalist, began investigating Dr. Hartman’s life, he discovered jour…
New Voices
,Lethal Injection
,Apr 13, 2020
As hospitals throughout the country face shortages of crucial medications needed to treat patients with COVID-19, a group of leading anesthesiologists, pharmacists and medical academics is asking corrections officials in death-penalty states to tu…
Mental Illness
,Clemency
,New Voices
,Jan 13, 2017
Ricky Gray (pictured), who is scheduled to be executed on January 18, is seeking clemency from Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, and his clemency petition has been joined by a diverse group of mental health profe…
Mental Illness
,New Voices
,Jun 15, 2017
In a recent commentary article in Medium, psychologist Dr. Frederick J. Frese, III (pictured) — a Marine Corps veteran who has himself been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia — argues that Congress and state legislatures should pass laws e…
New Voices
,Executions Overview
,Jul 18, 2006
Both the American Medical Association (AMA) and the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT) recently issued public statements reminding members of their ethical obligation not to participate in legally authorized executions. …
New Voices
,Jun 28, 2006
Dr. Deepak Chopra recently wrote that continuing use of the death penalty in the U.S. is irrational because it does not deter crime, risks innocent lives, and isolates the U.S. among the majority of First World nations that have chosen to abandon …
Recent Legislative Activity
,New Voices
,Lethal Injection
,Apr 20, 2016
Leonard Edloe (pictured), President of the American Pharmacists Association Foundation has urged Virginia lawmakers to reject Governor Terry McAuliffe’s proposal to
Jul 18, 2003
An editorial by Dr. Cyril H. Wecht, past president of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, notes that crime labs are overwhelmingly backlogged with work and that deficiencies of personnel, space and equipment in forensic science labs often l…
New Voices
,Lethal Injection
,May 16, 2016
On May 13, the pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced that it would impose strict distribution controls to block states from obtaining and using its medicines in executions. In a statement, the company said, “Pfizer makes its products to enhance …
International
,New Voices
,May 23, 2023
A May 20, 2023 editorial in a leading medical academic journal concludes that physician participation in executions “goes against the ethical foundation of the physician’s role” and argues that doctors and medical associations should oppose capita…
