ABSTRACT
Before an execution takes place and not soon a¬er a criminal is convicted, medical workers are allowed to visit prisons, usually let in by guards, so that they can begin to perform blood tests to determine if the prisoner is healthy and suitable to be an organ donor. e tests are usually performed days before the actual execution; however, medical personnel are forbidden to inform the prisoner of the reason for the tests. If the prisoner proves to be a perfect match and is healthy, the execution date is usually set sooner rather than later. “Hospitals are noti‹ed ahead of time when the execution is to be held so they may arrange a donor-patient match and prepare to make the transplant.”17 Medical professionals are an intricate part of the process of the removal of organs from prisoners and are usually on the execution site to assist. ey are also present on the execution ground so that at the moment of “death,” they can begin to immediately remove the organs, store them on ice, and rush back to the hospital in secret vans. “Immediately a¬er the prisoner was shot (in the head), the physician stemmed the blood ±ow, put the prisoner on the respirator, and injected compounds to raise blood pressure and cardiac output so as to keep the organs perfused. In this way, the physician becomes an intimate participant in the execution process, functioning not to preserve life but to manipulate death in the service of transplantation.”18 us, the killing and saving of lives become intermingled in the process. “It is a contravention of medical ethics for health personnel, particularly physicians, to be involved in any professional relationship with prisoners or detainees for the purpose of which is not solely to evaluate, protect or improve their physical and mental health.”19
