The American Nurses Association has come out with a strong rebuke of capital punishment.
By Kim Bellware, 02/22/2017 08:53 pm ET
The American Nurses Association has taken an official position opposing the death penalty for the first time in its organization’s history.
The organization has objected to nurses participating in the execution of prisoners since 1983, but a revised position statement issued Tuesday now extends the position to capital punishment as a practice.
“The American Nurses Association (ANA) opposes both capital punishment and nurse participation in capital punishment,” the statement reads. “Participation in executions, either directly or indirectly, is viewed as contrary to the fundamental goals and ethical traditions of the nursing profession.”
Other medical professional organizations like the American Medical Association, EMT Association and the American Pharmacists Association have positions against their members playing any role in executions as a matter of ethics. But few, if any, have staked out as unambiguous a stance as the ANA has.
“This is the first time the statement has taken [our position] further and opposed capital punishment itself,” Liz Stokes, the senior policy adviser for the ANA Center for Ethics and Human Rights, said Wednesday.
Stokes said the association widely supported the position change: It received a unanimous vote by ANA’s board of directors and roughly 2,000 comments ― largely supportive ― from other members during the 30-day public comment period.
Read more at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/american-nurses-association-capital-punishment_us_58ae275be4b057efdce8e587.
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