Death Penalty News

The state confirmed the medical professionals' positions in a court hearing ahead of Thursday's scheduled lethal injection of James Barber The details emerged during a Monday hearing at the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of James Barber, who has already served for than two decades in prison for the 2001 murder of Dorothy “Dottie” Epps in Harvest, Alabama. His execution is currently set to proceed Thursday at 6 p.m. inside Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. During Monday’s hearing, a lawyer for the state, Rich Anderson, told a panel of judges that Barber’s appeal was an “eleventh-hour” attempt at halting his execution when the state had already made changes to assure that implementing its lethal injection protocol would not “superadd” pain to Barber’s death.

Purpose The purpose of this position statement is twofold. First, to address the role of nurses in capital punishment. Second, to express the American Nurses Association’s (ANA) overall views on capital punishment, also referred to as the death penalty. Registered nurses, along with other health care professionals, continue to be called upon to participate in capital punishment, including the use of lethal injection. Since 1983, ANA has clearly held that nurses should not assume any role in the capital punishment of a prisoner. This position statement now extends to opposing capital punishment. Statement of ANA Position The American Nurses Association (ANA) opposes both capital punishment and nurse participation in capital punishment. Participation in executions, either directlyor indirectly, is viewed as contrary to the fundamental goals and ethical traditions of the nursing profession. This position is in alignment with the International Council of Nurses’ (ICN, 2012) ...