October 11, 2008
Too Fat to Die?
This is an amazing claim, and one which will get mocked at first glance, but raises some interesting questions:
The easy response to people who are ‘medically unfit’ for the death penalty is : ‘So what? They’re going to die, anyhow.” The issue, however, is how the medical problems impact the injection process, and whether medical treatments interfere with the lethal cocktail.
What if the veins of the convict are too damaged to insure the cocktails will be administered correctly?
On the other hand though, a decision limiting the death penalty for people who are ill could lead to people trying to develop medical problems prior to their sentence being carried out.
Also, if the court agrees and limits the application of the death penalty to s=medically unfit folks, can the state mandate treatment to improve the health of the convict, so they can be executed? (Not an issue in this case, but would certainly become one if the court sides with the inmate).
My guess is that the court will either deny the claim, or side step it – but it should be interesting to watch.
libhomo said (at October 16, 2008 01:34 PM):
I think the death penalty should be repealed. Our society is not ready to handle that much responsibility.
libhomo said (at October 16, 2008 01:35 PM):
I think the death penalty should be repealed. Our society is not ready to handle that much responsibility.
Henry said (at October 16, 2008 04:48 PM):
Yea, well on the larger scale, if you're against the Death Penalty period, that would likely include people who were obese.
I was focusing on the legal aspect. As an aside, the court refused to hear the case - without comment.