When Law and Ethics Collide — Why Physicians Participate in Executions

Abstract

Interview with Dr. Carlo Musso on the participation of physicians in capital punishment. (09:31)Download On February 14, 2006, a U.S. District Court issued an unprecedented ruling concerning the California execution by lethal injection of murderer Michael Morales. The ruling ordered that the state have a physician, specifically an anesthesiologist, personally supervise the execution, or else drastically change the standard protocol for lethal injections.1 Under the protocol, the anesthetic sodium thiopental is given at massive doses that are expected to stop breathing and extinguish consciousness within one minute after administration; then the paralytic agent pancuronium is given, followed by a fatal dose of potassium chloride.The judge found, however, that evidence from execution logs showed . . .