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Sarah K Sawicki, Health-Care Professionals and Lethal Injection: An Ethical Inquiry, The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy: A Forum for Bioethics and Philosophy of Medicine, Volume 47, Issue 1, February 2022, Pages 18–31, https://doi.org/10.1093/jmp/jhab040
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Abstract
The practice of health-care professional involvement in capital punishment has come under scrutiny since the implementation of lethal injection as a method of execution, raising questions of the goals of medicine and the ethics of medicalized procedures. The American Medical Association and other professional associations have issued statements prohibiting physician involvement in capital punishment because medicine is dedicated to preserving life. I address the three primary arguments against health-care professionals being involved in lethal injection (healing, trust, and nonmaleficence) and argue that they are not strong enough to prohibit physician involvement in the lethal injection process.