D. Armenta
PlagmanBotched Executions Create Uproar Among Anti-Death Penalty Groups
Within the medical community, there is one procedure so complicated that even the most talented surgeon on Grey's Anatomy would think twice before attempting it: the lethal injection.
In Ohio last month, Christopher Newton’s execution lasted 90 minutes and took multiple attempts. It took so long that he was allowed a bathroom break, since holding it in could have done long-term damage to his prostate.
In response to this violation of a murderer’s right to die in under 30 minutes or it’s free, the RCK, or Rights for Convicted Killers, branch of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) demanded state records, which would include the names of the volunteer medics and guards who oversaw the execution. The request has sparked controversy over whether the identities of executioners should be kept secret.
Opponents of the death penalty are using the May 24th execution of Newton to highlight what they are calling a ‘series’ of botched executions nationwide. Last December in Florida, the execution of Angel Diaz took 34 minutes, twice as long as normal. A second dose had to be administered because, according to the autopsy, the needle had been pushed through Diaz’s veins into the flesh of his arms. A commission that was created following Diaz’s execution proposed more training and better protocols for executioners to ensure killers will never again have to live seventeen minutes longer than they have to.
“We have to ensure that the doctors who are administering this injection are the best in the world.” Commented Sally Johnson of the ACLU, “otherwise who knows what could go wrong. The killer could be overdosed, he might have to live for another 20 minutes, the injection could sting... Honestly, did that doctor who performed Newton’s even get his GED and go to a medical assistant school for his two-week course about how to use needles?”
Because of this series of two drawn-out executions, the ACLU and others believe the executioners’ identities and credentials should be open to public scrutiny. Richard Dieter, executive director of the Washington, DC-based Death Penalty Information Center, which opposes the death penalty and has petitioned in the past that sociopath serial killers deserve a chance at rehabilitation, says the public can’t possibly scrutinize the effectiveness of capital punishment properly without information on those carrying it out.
“If we don’t know who’s performing the execution,” said Dieters, “how can we be sure capital punishment is effective? There’s no way of knowing whether or not the murderer was executed to the right amount of deadness unless we know who was involved.”
Death penalty advocates, such as Michael Rushford, president of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation in Sacramento, CA, are well aware that the ACLU simply wants to expose members of execution teams and intimidate them. “The ACLU… will use this opportunity to out someone involved in an execution, and use it to put these people at risk,” explained Rushford.
According to Rushford, if doctors’ identities were revealed, they would be exposed to sanctions by the American Medical Association since they would technically be in violation of their oath to “first, do no harm.”
Rushford continued, “They [the ACLU] were against the gas chamber 30 years ago; they said there was only one humane alternative and that would be lethal injection. Now they’re setting up this Catch-22 saying only a doctor can do that, and knowing the doctor’s association won’t let them.”
This technicality has made executing murderers quite difficult.
“What kind of barbaric society do we live in that allows an innocent man to suffer through his own execution for over an hour,” commented Johnson. “They are botching these executions, and we demand to know who’s responsible so they can be replaced with someone who can kill faster. Making a man wait half an hour to be executed… what are we, animals?”
Rushford added that by exposing those involved, it would shrink the pool of willing volunteers and diminish the state’s ability to execute criminals. “It’s not like we can have just anyone depressing the syringe, they need four years of medical school, 3-5 years of residency, and at least two decades in practice,” said the ACLU.
In North Carolina, executions have been halted for the time being because of the aforementioned Catch-22. The state’s law requires that a doctor be present during the execution, but a federal judge has said a doctor is needed to actively monitor the inmate to make sure he isn’t suffering any pain like his victims did. However, doctors face disciplinary action by the state medical board for doing so, thus leading to the current stalemate.
“In a perfect world,” explained an ACLU spokesman, “any healthcare worker who gives a dozen injections a day could give an injection, but they’re just not trained to give injections. Their job is to give injections, not give injections. Only a doctor is capable of giving an injection and then going home, and that’s why we demand that only doctor’s be allowed to perform this complex procedure. Now, if doctors aren’t allowed to be involved in an execution, then that’s the state’s problem. The burden of execution has always been on the state, that’s pure Constitution right there.”
In Ohio last month, Christopher Newton’s execution lasted 90 minutes and took multiple attempts. It took so long that he was allowed a bathroom break, since holding it in could have done long-term damage to his prostate.
In response to this violation of a murderer’s right to die in under 30 minutes or it’s free, the RCK, or Rights for Convicted Killers, branch of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) demanded state records, which would include the names of the volunteer medics and guards who oversaw the execution. The request has sparked controversy over whether the identities of executioners should be kept secret.
Opponents of the death penalty are using the May 24th execution of Newton to highlight what they are calling a ‘series’ of botched executions nationwide. Last December in Florida, the execution of Angel Diaz took 34 minutes, twice as long as normal. A second dose had to be administered because, according to the autopsy, the needle had been pushed through Diaz’s veins into the flesh of his arms. A commission that was created following Diaz’s execution proposed more training and better protocols for executioners to ensure killers will never again have to live seventeen minutes longer than they have to.
“We have to ensure that the doctors who are administering this injection are the best in the world.” Commented Sally Johnson of the ACLU, “otherwise who knows what could go wrong. The killer could be overdosed, he might have to live for another 20 minutes, the injection could sting... Honestly, did that doctor who performed Newton’s even get his GED and go to a medical assistant school for his two-week course about how to use needles?”
Because of this series of two drawn-out executions, the ACLU and others believe the executioners’ identities and credentials should be open to public scrutiny. Richard Dieter, executive director of the Washington, DC-based Death Penalty Information Center, which opposes the death penalty and has petitioned in the past that sociopath serial killers deserve a chance at rehabilitation, says the public can’t possibly scrutinize the effectiveness of capital punishment properly without information on those carrying it out.
“If we don’t know who’s performing the execution,” said Dieters, “how can we be sure capital punishment is effective? There’s no way of knowing whether or not the murderer was executed to the right amount of deadness unless we know who was involved.”
Death penalty advocates, such as Michael Rushford, president of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation in Sacramento, CA, are well aware that the ACLU simply wants to expose members of execution teams and intimidate them. “The ACLU… will use this opportunity to out someone involved in an execution, and use it to put these people at risk,” explained Rushford.
According to Rushford, if doctors’ identities were revealed, they would be exposed to sanctions by the American Medical Association since they would technically be in violation of their oath to “first, do no harm.”
Rushford continued, “They [the ACLU] were against the gas chamber 30 years ago; they said there was only one humane alternative and that would be lethal injection. Now they’re setting up this Catch-22 saying only a doctor can do that, and knowing the doctor’s association won’t let them.”
This technicality has made executing murderers quite difficult.
“What kind of barbaric society do we live in that allows an innocent man to suffer through his own execution for over an hour,” commented Johnson. “They are botching these executions, and we demand to know who’s responsible so they can be replaced with someone who can kill faster. Making a man wait half an hour to be executed… what are we, animals?”
Rushford added that by exposing those involved, it would shrink the pool of willing volunteers and diminish the state’s ability to execute criminals. “It’s not like we can have just anyone depressing the syringe, they need four years of medical school, 3-5 years of residency, and at least two decades in practice,” said the ACLU.
In North Carolina, executions have been halted for the time being because of the aforementioned Catch-22. The state’s law requires that a doctor be present during the execution, but a federal judge has said a doctor is needed to actively monitor the inmate to make sure he isn’t suffering any pain like his victims did. However, doctors face disciplinary action by the state medical board for doing so, thus leading to the current stalemate.
“In a perfect world,” explained an ACLU spokesman, “any healthcare worker who gives a dozen injections a day could give an injection, but they’re just not trained to give injections. Their job is to give injections, not give injections. Only a doctor is capable of giving an injection and then going home, and that’s why we demand that only doctor’s be allowed to perform this complex procedure. Now, if doctors aren’t allowed to be involved in an execution, then that’s the state’s problem. The burden of execution has always been on the state, that’s pure Constitution right there.”
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At least with the death penalty that's one more of them that won't live to do it again.
Some really do forfeit the right to live.
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Nonetheless, it raises an interesting ethical dilemma. At the risk of sounding heartless, there are crimes committed that warrant far worse than anything these criminals have suffered...
How do we as a society manage to be so tough, and yet be such pussies? Sure, we'll execute someone, as long as they're not the least bit uncomfortable. News flash for the government: even if it IS uncomfortable, they're not coming back to complain.
What's really aggravating is that the people against the death penalty would do a complete 180 if it was their child or relative that was murdered by some psycho
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