Physicians and execution

Participation in executions could be seen as nothing more than palliative care.
Like patients will terminal conditions, dying might suck, and there could be both physical and emotional suffering. The condemned is going to die. Unlike with terminal other conditions, we know the time, place, and mechanism. It cannot be stopped, he is going to die.
The last person poking him with a needle can be a poorly skilled prison employee, or a skilled provider who wishes to show some compassion. The drugs can be ‘prescribed’ by a dusted off protocol or the prescription can be double-checked by someone who has some actual working knowledge of the drugs being used. The drugs require physical preparation (pentothal must be mixed from a lyophilized power) and drawn into syringes. Delivery systems (IV infusion pumps or other devices) need to be checked for function by someone who uses them every day.

Providing compassionate care for the dying criminal might not be for everyone. People see my practice of hospice care and ask how I can stand the sorrow and misery. My reply is that it would only break my heart if I were competent to provide care for these people and failed to. Same thing with those condemned by the state rather than by disease. It seems unconscionable to let one man suffer to satisfy the Left’s political agenda against capital punishment.