"Old Dominion House Bill No. 74 v. Senate Bill No. 51" By: Isabel Mowery

Through thick and thin, the morality of the death penalty has always remained in the hot seat for debate from politicians and citizens alike. But now a new contender who’s equally as controversial, physician assisted suicide, has stepped into the limelight. Both topics have issues not only with the morality of their action as well their respective humanness. There is also debate about its effects on those who participate in the event itself and the psychological repercussions of taking a life and/or being indirectly responsible.

At Model General Assembly this year, two bills found in the Old Dominion Bill Book signal only the beginning of this extensive debate. Bill No. 74 passed through the House with dense discussion from both sides, but, Delegate Claire Watson feels strongly for her bill. “[It’s not] infringing on anyone. The choice is up to the individual.” But not everyone feels the same. Senator Rachel Hall notes that “life comes with trials and tribulations and we shouldn’t try and avoid them even in the case of terminal illness."

The other, Senate Bill No. 51 which changed the death penalty from lethal injection to firing squad, failed in committee but made a reasonable point. Senator Giselle Ebert said that “lethal injection is too painful and too inhumane. It has a botch rate of 7.21%”. The argument for the firing squad was that it “has a 0% botch rate” at half the price of lethal injection (according to Senator Ebert firing squad would only be $25 thousand with lethal injection at $50 thousand).

A poll taken asking MGA attendees their positions on the death penalty (DP) and Physician Assisted Suicide (DAS)

What’s the connection between these two bills? Pentobarbital, or more commonly known as Nembutal, is used in the chemical cocktails that constitute both lethal injections and in physician assisted suicides. “’I feel my whole body burning,’” one death row inmate remarked as he was executed using a [combination] of drugs including pentobarbital” (TIME). Meanwhile for physician assisted suicide, as reported by Senator Watson, “in 5 minutes they slip into a coma, and in 30 minutes they die. The doctor does routine checks on them every 10 minutes until they are pronounced dead”.

This leads to the question “How do two different combinations containing a majority pentobarbital produce two juxtaposing effects?” The death penalty, as made evident by the argument for physician assisted suicide, could be made more humane just by using the same cocktail. “Do we really need to use Castro or Duterte’s methods of execution, one that was condemned by United Nations, as a way to get 100% effectiveness?” (Senator Sachi Cooper)

Sources

Death Penalty Info https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/state-lethal-injection

TIME http://nation.time.com/2014/01/10/oklahoma-convict-who-felt-body-burning-executed-with-controversial-drug/

Pub Chem https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/pentobarbital#section=Top