Unfortunately, the American Medical Association has strictly declared that it is a violation against medical ethics if doctors participate in any role of state executions, which encourages many medical personnel to ignore inmates under the death penalty as potential patients. The only realistic solution that would satisfy both the federal and medical world is to continue to train state executioners to medically carry out this procedure. However, even with an improvement in this system, there are doubts that state executioners will have the medical expertise or long term psychological motivation to carry out such a complex procedure. In lieu of the fixed medical and federal protocols, medical personnel are needed to carry out state executions in the most professional manner that will ensure inmate’s suffering is minimized. First of all, in a lethal injection execution system without medical personnel, one must asked is for the state executioners’ qualifications. Do they have the basic medical skills necessary to carry out the lethal injection procedure? The problem is that these questions can not be answered precisely because states are not allowed to provide any information of the people on the execution team (USA). As a result, we do not know the exact qualifications of these state executioners, which lead to questioning if the current system is providing qualified executioners that can minimize unnecessary suffering for the inmate. While others may argue that there are official witnesses who oversee the state executioners from crossing ethical boundaries, they are misinformed. In a journal, Meditation on Lethal Injection, authors Robert Johnson and Rachel Ternes tell us the reality is state executions are highly unregulated that makes it difficult to ensure an inmate’s suffering is minimized. According to the article, official witnesses see nothing because executioners often work behind curtains to shield witnesses from details of the killing process (digital). In fact, state executioners administered new and untested drugs, and official witnesses report inmates to feel normal (digital). However, Johnson and Ternes tell us several inmates in their death throes would report they had intense burning sensations that suggest asphyxiation, which occurs when the procedure did not include proper anesthesia. This shows how a system with trained state executioners to take on a medical role cannot be trusted to carry out the 8th amendment. If medical personnel like anesthesiologist was present to administer the dosage and type of …show more content…
Is this even possible to enforce a system where state executioners are well trained like medical personnel? The truth is even some state executioners who are trained still faced challenges of inserting an IV or administering the drug without inserting unnecessary suffering. Even upon gaining every necessary medical skills, will state executioners be willing to stay for the long term? We may exert so much resources training people like Jerry Given -and__- only to have them quit because the procedure calls for even more experiences or psychological confidences. We have yet to question how willing are these state executioners are to gain the medical expertise as one like a doctor, nurse, or anesthesiologist. All in all, we have to speak of this improved system with unrealistic optimism to satisfy both medical and federal worlds. What role should doctors play in state execution when we can not practically have an execution system without them? Our only option is to depend on medical personnel to participate in state executions to ensure inmates are not treated inhumanely. The AMA and federal protocols might not be right, but denying inmates as patients by leaving them to suffer unnecessary suffering is inhumane. The role of a doctor as a healer is also to minimize unnecessary suffering to any patients,