Completely Missing the Point

The recent uproar in California over whether inmate Michael Morales should be executed by lethal injection, is really a red herring in the overall debate regarding capital punishment. Morale's lawyers have a valid argument by contending:

....the state's execution procedures amounted to cruel and unusual punishment because scientific evidence suggests the intravenously administered three-drug mixture doesn't alleviate severe pain as it stops the heart.

This argument was not enough to stop the execution however. What did was the ethical and moral stance taken by doctors, who refused to participate in the execution. Doctors would normally serve as as monitors and would intervene if complications arise during the execution. Since the doctors take a Hippocratic oath to do no harm, they could not stand by and knowingly participate in an execution process that is increasingly seen as one where the drugs used have the potential to cause considerable pain and suffering. Good for them – but their stance while noble, still misses the crux of the issue.

The government, the state, we the people, have no moral right to take a life, to execute, to kill, as punishment. This act is one of barbarism, one of retribution, one that attempts to mask its amorality under a cloak of 'deterrence'. It is wrong.

More here.

Posted on The Human Stain