you mean a form of punishment, surely. I'd be every concerned if it was a form of prosecution, esp if I was up for not taxing me car or summat like that!

..the Devil will find work for idle hands to do; i stole and I lied, and why? because you asked me to..

It looks like I'm one of the few that goes against the grain here. I'm a huge supporter of the death penalty. In fact, I don't think it's used ENOUGH. But again, this is just me and I don't speak for anybody else. MY two cents.

"Violence is the supreme authority from which all other authority is derived."

I want to add something to Mustang's post: We're talking about the oath vs. the death penalty, not the oath vs. euthanesia!!

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I prefer the rule of the underworld.

**** up and your corpse is found in a river.

However the Hippocratic Oath is to PRESERVE LIFE correct? You cannot then be involved in "execution" without breaking this Oath. My opinion this is not just logic my opinion is well....

-~-~-~-~
There is no Silicon Heaven! But where do all the calculators go ?

You could no more evade my wrath... than you could your own shadow!

if the condemned man is going to die anyway, isn't it better a qualified doctor do it than leave it in the hands of bungling guards, or use some other much nastier and uncertain form of execution?

although myself I'd take the firing squad - no blindfold. then I'd be looking through Gary Gilmore's eyes...

..the Devil will find work for idle hands to do; i stole and I lied, and why? because you asked me to..

In terms of Death Penalty vs Life with no parole. Is not life with no chance of parole like having an incurable illness? Administering the death penilty, if it can be done in an human and painless way, could it not be done? The ethinasia aspect is still apart. It is administering death weather ilness or a jury decree. It is still dieing, can a doctor make it painless, in essent, murcifull. It, to me, is like you coming into an ER with bad damage done in a car wreck. The doctor looks you over and realizes the damage is masive and nothing he can do will stop it. But he still sows you up and gives pain meds to help you. But, he can not keep you alive. Exicutuion, to a medical proferssion, could be looked as the same, nothing he or she can do to keep you alive. Just atempt to make it as painless and humain as possible. A thought....

Edited by - Finalday on 6/12/2004 11:56:02 AM

Oh, we're discussing the death penalty! Sorry, but when I think of the above issue, my mind goes towards the whole euthansia debate.

I do not think that execution is a good idea, mainly because it is not much of a deterrant for the more "hardcore" criminal element. Indeed, someone living the rest of their life in a small cell is far worse in my view, as the execution of a criminal can be forgotten rather quickly.

---

I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.

---

The hippocratic oath does leave itself quite open to interpretation. What exactly does it mean to play God? Would deliberately taking a life be considered playing god?
It says that it is within the power of a doctor to take a life, but does not go as far as to say this will always be the wrong choice. For that matter it doesn't say much at all, you could be a brain surgeon and while you're holding a scalpel over your patients brain it's well within your power to take a life there and then. All its states is that your patients survival or death is ultimately your responsibility.
Personally I reckon a lot of doctors could be helped by a less ambiguous oath.

So what would be a good oath then Rescu?

-~-~-~-~
There is no Silicon Heaven! But where do all the calculators go ?

You could no more evade my wrath... than you could your own shadow!

I wasn't saying I could come up with anything better, I was just saying that there were parts of it that weren't entirely clear and are open to interpretation.

I'm well aware of what you said. I asked a question which you dodged.

-~-~-~-~
There is no Silicon Heaven! But where do all the calculators go ?

You could no more evade my wrath... than you could your own shadow!

Well the answer is "I don't know".
You posed that question to the wrong person. Do I look like an expert in medicine and law? I never implied I had the answer to the problem, whoever wrote it in it's current form probably spent a long time thinking it up, worrying about problems it could cause, even in the future, and thus has left parts necessarily unclear. I know I couldn't do a better job myself if that's what you're trying to imply.

Heltak, I'm watching you...
Watch your steps.

-- The Lancersreactor: where the screenshots are never blurry, and the spammers get publically kicked around.

The Lancersreactor FAQ
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Fair enough answer Rescu, see all the dodgin isn't needed.

Wizard you'll have t oget in line. MI5 MI6 the CIA the FBI and the Mothers Against Violent Videogames are watching me. One little moderator isn't THAT scary and niether is an admin, watch me all you want I'll still say the same things.

-~-~-~-~
There is no Silicon Heaven! But where do all the calculators go ?

You could no more evade my wrath... than you could your own shadow!

Edit by Wizard: I'm not going to quote Dirty Harry, but I think you'll know what quote I wanted to use

Edited by - Wizard on 6/13/2004 11:33:23 AM