{"id":2059,"date":"2010-05-10T11:59:15","date_gmt":"2010-05-10T10:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=2059"},"modified":"2010-05-10T11:59:15","modified_gmt":"2010-05-10T10:59:15","slug":"mike-weaver-on-anaesthesiologists-and-the-lethal-injection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2010\/05\/10\/mike-weaver-on-anaesthesiologists-and-the-lethal-injection\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Weaver on anaesthesiologists and the lethal injection"},"content":{"rendered":"

On 15th February 2010 the American Board of Anesthesiology<\/a> (ABA) stated that anaesthetists may not participate in capital punishment<\/a> if they wish to be “board certified.” To me, an American anaesthetist practising in the UK, this statement would seem surreal if it were not so necessary.\u00a0 For years the American Society of Anaesthesiologists <\/a>(ASA) has followed the American Medical Association\u2019s (AMA) advice in its clear opposition to physician involvement in capital punishment. The most recent ABA commentary sends a more direct message to anaesthetists, the public, and judicial authorities in the United States.<\/p>\n

I can see how the idea of involving anaesthetists in the use of lethal injection for capital punishment is attractive and logical to some. If lethal injection is going to be used for execution, why not make sure that venous access, timing of drugs, and monitoring is done as humanely as possible? To this end, why shouldn\u2019t clinicians with appropriate skills be directly involved in the process? Atul Gawande interviewed nurses and doctors who have taken part in giving lethal injections to inmates condemned to death<\/a>. Their stories are powerful and challenging. They should be read by anyone wishing to hold a view on this issue.\u00a0These individuals care greatly about minimising suffering and take this role very seriously. They seem to be compassionate people.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Atul Gawande\u2019s interviewees also miss the point. The use of lethal injection for capital punishment is, of course, not part of any medical domain. There is no patient, harm is done on purpose, and there is no consent. So, no healthcare professionals belong here. Component parts of anaesthetic practice are being used in a certain sequence to try and achieve unconsciousness and death. That is all. If it were straightforward there would be no issue.\u00a0The problem is that it is clearly not that easy, can be messy, and causes suffering. A District Court in California (1996) was concerned enough about this to rule that there should be reasonable assurance that unconsciousness is achieved during the execution.\u00a0The court ruled that this could only be done by \u201ca person with formal training and experience in the field of general anesthesia.\u201d This put anaesthetists in a difficult position through no fault of their own.\u00a0In response, the American Society of Anaesthesiologists sent out a newsletter<\/a> strongly advising its members to be informed and not to\u00a0help out.\u00a0The recent ABA statement goes much further and all anaesthetists should welcome it.\u00a0My concern is that the statement cannot protect nurse anaesthetists. I hope that their regulatory body takes a similar stance.
\n\u00a0
\nMike Weaver <\/strong>is an anaesthetist at the Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On 15th February 2010 the American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA) stated that anaesthetists may not participate in capital punishment if they wish to be “board certified.” To me, an American […]<\/p>\n

More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[223],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-bloggers"],"yoast_head":"\nMike Weaver on anaesthesiologists and the lethal injection - The BMJ<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2010\/05\/10\/mike-weaver-on-anaesthesiologists-and-the-lethal-injection\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mike Weaver on anaesthesiologists and the lethal injection - The BMJ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On 15th February 2010 the American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA) stated that anaesthetists may not participate in capital punishment if they wish to be “board certified.” To me, an American [...]More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2010\/05\/10\/mike-weaver-on-anaesthesiologists-and-the-lethal-injection\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The BMJ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bmjdotcom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-05-10T10:59:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"BMJ\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bmj_latest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bmj_latest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"BMJ\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2010\\\/05\\\/10\\\/mike-weaver-on-anaesthesiologists-and-the-lethal-injection\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2010\\\/05\\\/10\\\/mike-weaver-on-anaesthesiologists-and-the-lethal-injection\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"BMJ\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ba3da426ed20e8f1d933ca367d8216fe\"},\"headline\":\"Mike Weaver on anaesthesiologists and the lethal injection\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-05-10T10:59:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2010\\\/05\\\/10\\\/mike-weaver-on-anaesthesiologists-and-the-lethal-injection\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":448,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Guest writers\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2010\\\/05\\\/10\\\/mike-weaver-on-anaesthesiologists-and-the-lethal-injection\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2010\\\/05\\\/10\\\/mike-weaver-on-anaesthesiologists-and-the-lethal-injection\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2010\\\/05\\\/10\\\/mike-weaver-on-anaesthesiologists-and-the-lethal-injection\\\/\",\"name\":\"Mike Weaver on anaesthesiologists and the lethal injection - 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