The Ethics of Medical Involvement in Capital Punishment

The morality of capital punishment has been debated for a long time. This however has 1 not resulted in the settlement of the question either way. Philosophers are still divided. In this work I am not addressing the morality of capital punishment per se. My question is different but related. It is this. Whether or not capital punishment is morally right, is it moral or immoral for medical doctors to be involved in the practice? To deal with this question I start off in Chapter One delineating the sort of involvement the medical associations consider to be morally problematic for medical doctors in capital punishment. They make a distinction between what they call 2 "medicalisation" of and "involvement" in capital punishment, and argue that there is a moral distinction between the two. Whilst it is morally acceptable for doctors to be "involved" in capital punishment, according to the medical associations, it is immoral to medicalise the practice. I clarify this position and show what moral issues arise. I then suggest that there should not be a distinction between the two. The medical associations argue that the medicalisation of capital punishment, especially the use by medical doctors of lethal injection to execute condemned prisoners is immoral and therefore should be prohibited, because it involves doctors in doing what is against the aims of medicine.

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Acknowledgements. Introduction. 1: Medicalisation Of Capital Punishment Medicalisation. Medical Involvement In Capital Punishment. Issues Arising From The Distinction Between Medicalisation And Involvement. The Medical Associations' Position On Medicalisation Of Capital Punishment. What the Medical Associations Regard as Unacceptable for their Members to do. Role Morality. Agnosticism. 2: Role/Professional versus Ordinary Morality. Role Morality. Roles. Professional Morality is the Application of Ordinary Moral Principles in Special Situations. Business Morality is Not Separate from Ordinary Morality. Medical versus Ordinary Morality. 3: The Morality Of Euthanasia And Its Implications For The Medicalisation Of Capital Punishment. 4: The Military Doctor. 5: Medical Involvement In The Wider Capital Punishment Process. Institutional Justification. Medical Involvement at the Investigation stage of a Capital Crime. Medical Involvement in other Non-therapeutic Activities. Medical Evidence that the Suspect is Fit for a Capital Offence Trial. Medical Testimony in a Capital Trial. Pre-sentence Medical Evaluation. Medical Evaluation of Fitness for Execution. Medical Re-evaluation of Competence to be Executed. Medical Treatment to Restore Competency to be Executed. Medical Involvement in War and Capital Punishment. Military Doctor Role Compared to the Doctor-Executioner Role. Medical Involvement in Preparing a Prisoner for Hanging Versus Giving Medical Evidence in a Capital Trial. 'Participation' and 'Professional Involvement'. Lethal Injection. 6: Kantian Theory. Introduction. Kantian Theory of Justice. Investigation and Trial. Fitness to Plead and Stand Trial. Sentencing Stage. Treatment on Death Row. Determination of Dangerousness to Society. Fitness/Competence Determination for Execution and Treatment to Restore Competence. Tranquillisation. Lethal Injection. Who Should Execute? Some People are Better off Dead. Organ Donation. 7: Utilitarian Arguments for Medicalisation. Utilitarianism. Investigation. Medical Determination of suspect's Fitness to Plead and Stand Trial. Medical Participation in a Capital Trial. Prediction of Future Dangerousness to Society. Execution Competence Determination and Restoration. Tranquillisation. Subjugation by Medical Means of an Inmate for Execution. Lethal Injection and Related Preparations. Organ Donation. Certification of Death. 8: The Medical Doctor and a Condemned Prisoner. The Social Position of the Medical Doctor in History. The Medical Doctor in relation to the Condemned Prisoner. Conclusion. Appendices:- Appendix 1: Another example of Justifiable Medical Killing: Prisoner Doctors in the Nazi Camps. Appendix 2: Personal Correspondence: L. Hurst (1999). Appendix 3: Amnesty International 'ethics of medical participation in war' questionnaire (January 25 1999). Appendix 4: Restriction of Duties Medical Certificate.References. Index.