US anaesthesiologists are told not to take part in executions by lethal injection

Although against capital punishment I suggest that the ABA has taken
too hard a stance is refusing to allow its members to assist in judicial
executions. As Dr Mali implies physicians have a duty to mimimise pain and
this is especially the case with vulnerable people. If a physician does
not object to participating in an execution and if the aim is to mimimise
suffering, then it seems to me that it is morally permissable for the
doctor to do.

There is another point to make. I am not a medical doctor but if the
cocktail of drugs used even if administered comptently will nevertheless
and always means that the prisiner will die in agony then I would be
against physician involvement. However, if the physician by his expertise
is able to make the execution less painful and distessing then that is a
good reason for involvement.

Competing interests:
None declared