Publications

Physician participation in the implementation of the death penalty is a highly contentious issue, spawning voluminous professional and academic debate. Society has long provided a role for physicians in the execution process, but as the death penalty has become more and more medicalized, the appropriate contours of such participation have come under increasing scrutiny. Should physicians be present at executions? Should they oversee the execution process? Should they deliver lethal injections or pronounce death? Social consensus on these pressing issues is imperative in order to guide legislation and remove current roadblocks to appropriate physician involvement.