The Supreme Court in their 1986 ruling in Ford v. Wainwright held that executing the insane was a violation of the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The American Medical Association has defined the direct participation in an execution as unethical. On rare occasions, inmates on death row may decompensate and become psychotic to the point that they do not appreciate that they are being punished, why they are being punished, or that they are going to be executed and will die. Psychiatrists who are asked to evaluate or treat these individuals on death row are faced with an uncomfortable ethical dilemma of whether to recommend forcing medications on these individuals. These are the two main viewpoints in this issue.
Please choose a position and post a 500 (or more) word discussion post outlining your position. Make sure to consider and address all sides of the prompt (i.e. both sides of the argument). Then post two 250 word (or more) professional response to the posts of your peers. Research literature should be appropriately synthesized into all three of your posts. Several things to note for research literature for this assignment; 1. Literature must meet criteria as outlined in the instructional power point.2. Literature is needed in support of both the your position AND the opposing position.3. Literature provided as course material may be used in your posts, but will not fulfill the criteria for literature own their own. Students must find outside sources to fulfill the criteria.4. Students cannot reuse the same information in multiple posts.