Catherine Sweeney, NPR; After failed execution, health workers say Tennessee's method flouts medical ethics
"Now, as another death row inmate's execution approaches, doctors and nurses in the state say they want medical professionals removed from the execution process. They've also joined defense attorneys and nine Republican state lawmakers in demanding a moratorium on the death penalty and an overhaul of the state's execution methods.
The doctors' arguments echoed those the American Medical Association (AMA) has made before the U.S. Supreme Court and in its code of ethics.
The death penalty in the U.S.
Tennessee is among 27 states where the death penalty is legal, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit that offers data and analysis on issues surrounding capital punishment.
Governors in four of those states have halted all executions, citing moral concerns and logistical ones, such as being unable to obtain lethal injection drugs amid pharmaceutical companies' refusal to sell them for use in executions. Lethal injection is still the primary execution method nationwide, but some states may use gas, a firing squad, or electrocution."
