# Compelling prison doctors to assist in executions **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 1, 2015, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compelling-prison-doctors-to-assist-in-executions/723965 "2015-07-01T16:42:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2015, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compelling-prison-doctors-to-assist-in-executions/723965/41 "2015-07-06T00:00:15Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > It would even be possible to get the state Legislature involved, or at least aware. I’ve met enough of them coming through the prison on their tours over the years. In states like Illinois prison docs get to meet politicians not only on formal visiting tours but also as inmates… No incarcerated pols in Wisconsin? Or did you mean “tour” in some other sense than an afternoon visit? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2015, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compelling-prison-doctors-to-assist-in-executions/723965/42 "2015-07-06T00:06:15Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > So 100% of all doctors are morally opposed to capital punishment? That cannot be accurate. There must be at least ONE doctor in the entire state of, say, Texas that would agree to perform executions. I don’t know if he ever lived in Texas, but Jack Kevorkian is deceased and thus is no longer employable. Other than him - what other doctors have expressed a willingness to kill people? ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2015, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compelling-prison-doctors-to-assist-in-executions/723965/43 "2015-07-06T00:26:44Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > So 100% of all doctors are morally opposed to capital punishment? That cannot be accurate. There must be at least ONE doctor in the entire state of, say, Texas that would agree to perform executions. Prisons have been looking for doctors for years to help with executions. They have not been able to find anyone to take the job. > [@](#): > > All it would take is the legislature passing a law forbidding the state licensing board from taking adverse action against his or her medical license. Well if that’s all it takes… moving heaven and Earth is a simple task in comparison. I welcome any legislator to go to battle against doctors claiming they must kill people for the state, so we can see just how short their political career can be. > [@](#): > > Further, if you are going to use the whole “we cannot find any doctors who will do it argument” then don’t be surprised when the county clerk from Backwater County, Ala-sippi says, “Gee, we interviewed 11 people for the position of marriage license issuer, and no qualified person would agree to issue same sex marriage licenses.” Them saying something does not make it true, the county clerk would find him/herself in a poor position to defend their active involvement in denying peoples civil rights. I’m sure the federal Government could easily find someone qualified and capable of filing the position even in Backwater County. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2015, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compelling-prison-doctors-to-assist-in-executions/723965/44 "2015-07-06T02:43:31Z")
> [@boytyperanma](#): > > Prisons have been looking for doctors for years to help with executions. They have not been able to find anyone to take the job. Well then it’s because it doesn’t pay enough. It can’t be THAT hard to find a Doctor to do an execution. But you don’t need a Doctor. You need a good IV and you need the right drugs, if you are talking about lethal injection as the means. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2015, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compelling-prison-doctors-to-assist-in-executions/723965/45 "2015-07-06T02:48:45Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Another worry about killing patients is that it would be habit forming. Some of my patients really need putting down. Let a paramedic treat them then. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2015, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compelling-prison-doctors-to-assist-in-executions/723965/46 "2015-07-06T02:53:02Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I don’t know if he ever lived in Texas, but Jack Kevorkian is deceased and thus is no longer employable. > > Other than him - what other doctors have expressed a willingness to kill people? It’s my understanding that there is no shortage of MDs in Oregon willing to prescribe 9 g of secobarbital when warranted. Whether or not the patient takes that medication is another situation, one which doctors do not participate in. (the suicide drug) ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2015, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compelling-prison-doctors-to-assist-in-executions/723965/47 "2015-07-06T07:18:38Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > The difference between the clerks and the doctors is nothing more than supply . There are plenty of people who are qualified to be clerks who either don’t have any objection to issuing licenses to same-sex couples **or** whose objections aren’t strong enough to cause them to refuse to take/keep the job with such a requirement. That doesn’t appear to be the case for doctors and executions. You could fire all the prison doctors who refuse to particpate in executions ( which would probably be every one of them) and contract out for medical services or use outside clinics for all medical care- but in the end, you still will not have prison doctors particpating in executions so it would be a pointless exercise. Fire all the clerks who refuse to issue licenses ( which almost certainly would not be every one of them) and you could probably fill those jobs by close of business tomorrow. You do understand the moral/ethical problems of your psition, don’t you? It’d be imposible to legislate the idea “your moral objections are only legally relevant if you have a difficult-to-replace job; otherwise you’re screwed”. It also means that oyu’d be legally making some employees second-class, not simply lower-paid. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2015, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compelling-prison-doctors-to-assist-in-executions/723965/48 "2015-07-06T10:58:57Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > You do understand the moral/ethical problems of your psition, don’t you? > It’d be imposible to legislate the idea “your moral objections are only legally relevant if you have a difficult-to-replace job; otherwise you’re screwed”. It also means that oyu’d be legally making some employees second-class, not simply lower-paid. Except I didn’t say anything about moral objections being relevant at all and in fact I said it was due to a difference in supply, a practical issue. It’s no different than a government that requires employees to live in the jurisdiction, but allows those in certain jobs to live outside the boundaries because those jobs are hard to fill, ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2015, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compelling-prison-doctors-to-assist-in-executions/723965/49 "2015-07-06T11:29:27Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > It’s my understanding that there is no shortage of MDs in Oregon willing to prescribe 9 g of secobarbital when warranted. Whether or not the patient takes that medication is another situation, one which doctors do not participate in. (the suicide drug) That’s not doctors killing people. That’s assisting the terminally ill to kill themselves. Granted, it’s a fine line, but it’s not the doctor doing the killing there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compelling-prison-doctors-to-assist-in-executions/723965.md?page=2)