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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Martin Donohoe, MD, Community Health/Internal Medicine, Portland State University/Kaiser Permanente, 3718 Rivers Edge Drive, Lake Oswego, OR 97034, 503-819-6979, martin.donohoe@verizon.net

Promotion of peace requires respect for life. The U.S. is the only Western democracy to legally kill its own citizens. Since 1976, 32 states have carried out over 1,000 executions. Thirty-eight states allow capital punishment. There are 3500 people on Death Row. While the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled unconstitutional the execution of minors and the “mentally retarded,” racism plays a significant role in capital punishment. Extensive criminological data agree that the death penalty is not a deterrent to violent crime.

Execution by lethal injection is inhumane. Eighty-eight percent of those executed anesthetic levels lower than required for surgery, and 43% had concentrations consistent with awareness (Lancet 2005;356:1361). Despite the opposition of the AMA, APHA, and the ANA to the participation of health professionals in executions, very few physicians are aware of AMA guidelines prohibiting their participation in executions, and 41% would perform at least one disallowed action.

Serious constitutional errors mar about 2/3 of capital cases, such as ineffective assistance of defense counsel, prosecutorial misconduct, and improper jury instructions. Since 1973, over 120 people have been released from death row upon proving their innocence, often through DNA evidence. False confessions are common, due to coercion, exhaustion or mental impairment.

Public opinion in favor of the death penalty has been declining. Most Americans feel that innocent people have been executed. Illinois, Maryland, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, the American Bar Association, and the UN Commission on Human Rights have called for a moratorium on capital punishment.

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