Jk. Boehnlein et al., MEDICAL-ETHICS, CULTURAL-VALUES, AND PHYSICIAN PARTICIPATION IN LETHAL INJECTION, Bulletin of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 23(1), 1995, pp. 129-134
Capital punishment by lethal injection has been discussed in the liter
ature, but there has been no consideration of the sociocultural founda
tions of the ethical issues related to medical aspects of capital puni
shment. Lethal injection represents the inappropriate medicalization o
f a complex social issue whereby medical skills and procedures are use
d in ways that contradict established medical practice. Although physi
cians are socialized to their healing role during medical education an
d training, their behavior is influenced by social and cultural values
that both precede and coexist with their professional life. Because o
f this dynamic interplay between professional and sociocultural values
, physicians can neither exempt themselves from societal debate by mer
ely invoking professional ethics, nor can they define their profession
al role exclusively in terms of societal values that potentially dimin
ish personal and collective-professional responsibility. It is essenti
al that physicians have a broad historical perspective on the developm
ent of the profession's standards and values in order to deal effectiv
ely with present and future complex ethical issues.