Baze v. Rees-- OK, Let the Killings Begin Again

According to family lore, my father (for a little while) served as the physician who pronounced death after executions in Texas. I can't remember who told me this, but it could be true.

I guess the method of execution would have been electrocution at that time (the 50's), so a doctor would not have been needed to help in the killing.

The reason I think it may be true is that he and I shared a couple of characteristics: First, we began with a great sense of personal entitlement that put us above any sense of a morality we shared with the rest of the world. In other words, those rules were good for others, but we were different and not really bound by them. Second, we pushed for the excitement of a new experience.

This combination had special harsh consequences for both of us, he far worse than me, at least so far. We did not accept personal limitations, so we learned them the hard way.

Family lore also says (and he may have told me this, though I don't remember for sure) that he was so sickened and guilt ridden by watching the executions and participating in the pronouncing of death that he never really recovered. Because this was not the only thing that haunted him, it may not have been, as we say legalistically, "the sole cause" of his distress, but certainly a factor.

This whole episode set me fairly early against the death penalty. I remember the argumentwhen I was a little Baptist kid in McAllen that if we execute a criminal, he may not have time for the salvation and eternal bliss that God intended for him. I readily grabbed on this reason to oppose the death penalty when superimposed on the nausea that came with the execution stories.

Now, of course, I am more practiced in reasons to oppose the death penalty, but it remains a visceral reaction first.

The Supremes cavil. Even the dissenters don't appear to flatly oppose the death penalty. One of the concurring opinions discusses the ethical objections of doctors, nurses and EMT in participating in executions and the argument that the refusal of professionals to partipate makes it more likely cruel.

If only my Dear Old Dad had been able to benefit from those professional restrictions to protect him from himself.