Dogs are Killed More Humanely than Humans

The April 16, 2005 issue of The Lancet contains a fast-track Research Letter entitled Inadequate anaesthesia in lethal injection for execution, and an editorial entitled Medical collusion in the death penalty: an American atrocity.  It was the latter title that really got my attention.  Although it is not unusual for the leading British medical journal editorials to be critical of American policy, it is not common for them to use so strong of a word as atrocity.  It turns out, though, that their choice of words is no mere attention-getting gimmick; what they report really is an atrocity.  It this post, I review the Research Letter and the Editorial, to explain why it really is an atrocity.  Indeed, it is an embarrassment to our nation.  Continue reading here.

(Updated 4/19/2005)