I think this applies more widely than just doctors. As a pilot, I could design an execution protocol using nitrogen that would be dirt cheap and totally painless. Any other pilot could write the same one. But I wouldn't do it, not if you paid me a million dollars. There are too many cases of innocent people getting executed, so I want nothing to do with any of it. Our judicial system is good, but it is not good enough to be relied on for taking life. So I would do nothing to help justify or condone or make tolerable the act of executing prisoners.
Also, this execution is a perfect example. Three bullets to the heart should kill someone dead in seconds. But the article mentions him crying out and flexing for the better part of a minute. That makes me think all three executioners missed the heart, perhaps on purpose.
Exactly. The protocol was written by somebody with no medical training. So the first drug knocks the person out, the second drug paralyzes them, and the third drug stops the heart. Problem is, the third drug if given to a conscious person is incredibly painful. This created situations where the first drug was dosed wrong, so the person woke up but was unable to move.
Lethal injection could be much better done with a single drug system, like a massive overdose of barbiturates, but I think there is an unspoken desire to avoid any death that might be considered 'pleasant". Which to be honest is completely barbaric in my opinion.