Petrie-Flom Faculty Director I. Glenn Cohen appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show last night to discuss his recent opinion piece in JAMA, coauthored with Robert D. Truog and Mark A. Rockoff (both of Harvard Medical School), on “Physicians, Medical Ethics, and Execution by Lethal Injection.” In the piece, Cohen et al. argue that medical specialty boards should withdraw board certification from members who participate in executions.
From the interview:
…we think it [execution] is totally incompatible with the role of the doctor. A doctor is about healing. A doctor is about soothing pain. A doctor is not meant to be conscripted by the state to make what is the involuntary killing of another person look as though it’s a medical procedure, like getting your teeth pulled or putting your dog to sleep. It’s kabuki theater, Rachel, and we think doctors should stand up. Whatever your position is on capital punishment, it’s wrong to make this procedure look like medicine. That’s not what it is. […]
Watch the full interview.
