Ethics

= Ethics = "As the twenty-first century began, capital punishment was an emotionally charged political issues administered within a legal framework so unworkable that it satisfied no one" ( Banner, 2002, p. 310 ).

Physicians have long been known as people who help cure diseases or alleviate them, but now their services, medical knowledge, and skills have been placed toward a different direction – now their services required them to help assists with sentenced individual's death. Ethics term questions whether is right for a **physician to participate in state-ordered execution**? Unfortunately, there is **no clear-cut answer** to this ethical question. = Physician Roles = Medical societies such as **American Medical Association** have shaded their positions on the issue by stating that it is **unethical for physicians to participate** in state-ordered execution—especially by **lethal injection**, as “this procedure requires the direct application of biomedical knowledge and skills in a corruption and exploitation of the healing profession’s role in society” (Annas, 2008, para. 3). According to the **Hippocratic principle**, physicians shall **do no harm** to their patients, so therefore physician’s participation in execution procedures are **violating this important principle** (Annas, 2008).

However, this issue should be looked from another point of view. If the state continues to used the method of lethal injection **than the executions are more humane**, physician’s involvement can be **partially justified** because medical knowledge is used to **alleviate the convict's pain** during the actual procedure. Nevertheless, there is **no specific medical ethic or legal requirement** that strictly restricts physicians to participate in execution, so therefore physicians may either **choose not to participate or to participate willingly** (Annas, 2008). = Cruel and Unusual Punishment = Many critics insists that the death penalty using the lethal injection method does **violate the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution**, which states “**excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted**” (Annas, 2008, para. 2). However, **the U.S. Supreme Court** has ruled indeed that the death penalty would violate the Eighth Amendment only if it creates **unnecessary and substantial risk of pain to the individual**. If there is not an **intention to inflict pain**, and there is no knowledge that pain does occurs then it would not violate the Amendment (Annas, 2008).

In addition, some opponents of capital punishment may also raise an argument that a convicted murderer was a victim of bad **past experience and surrounding environment** (Koukl, 1996). However, Koukl (1996) makes an argument in his article that a man who has committed a murder must **be responsible for his own crime**, regardless of whatever circumstance or experience that he had gone through during childhood. Also, a human is considered to be a **moral agent**, and thus capable of making decisions and responsible for **making decisions** (Koukl, 1996).

Lastly, to be **just and fair**, only **legitimate sovereign power** should be allowed to administer capital punishment, and **neither an individual nor religious organization** should have the right to do so. Capital punishment is a legal matter applied under **the rules of law** and not a personal matter between the **murderer and victim or victim’s families** (Steffen, 1998).