NDLI: The Singleton case: enforcing medical treatment to put a person to death

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Garasic, Mirko Daniel
Copyright Year	2013
Abstract	In October 2003 the Supreme Court of the United States allowed Arkansas officials to force Charles Laverne Singleton, a schizophrenic prisoner convicted of murder, to take drugs that would render him sane enough to be executed. On January 6 2004 he was killed by lethal injection, raising many ethical questions. By reference to the Singleton case, this article will analyse in both moral and legal terms the controversial justifications of the enforced medical treatment of death-row inmates. Starting with a description of the Singleton case, I will highlight the prima facie reasons for which this case is problematic and merits attention. Next, I will consider the justification of punishment in Western society and, in that context, the evolution of the notion of insanity in the assessment of criminal responsibility during the past two centuries, both in the US and the UK. In doing so, I will take into account the moral justification used to enforce treatment, looking at the conflict between the prisoner’s right to treatment and his right to refuse medication where not justified by outcomes that can be reasonably expected to be positive for the individual. Finally, in contrast with some retributivist arguments in favour of enforced treatment to enable execution, I will propose a possible alternative, necessary if we are to consistently uphold the notion of autonomy.
Starting Page	795
Ending Page	806
Page Count	12
File Format	PDF
ISSN	13867423
Journal	Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy
Volume Number	16
Issue Number	4
e-ISSN	15728633
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Netherlands
Publisher Date	2013-02-11
Publisher Place	Dordrecht
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Capital punishment Competence Enforced treatment Insanity Neuroethics Responsibility Retributivism Schizophrenia Theory of Medicine/Bioethics Medical Law Ethics History of Medicine
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Philosophy Education Health (social science) Health Policy

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

The Singleton case: enforcing medical treatment to put a person to death.

Does Communicative Retributivism Necessarily Negate Capital Punishment?

Belief and Death: Capital Punishment and the Competence-for-Execution Requirement

Exploring the similarities and differences between medical assessments of competence and criminal responsibility

On the person in personal health responsibility

Elliott, C.: 1996, The Rules of Insanity; Moral Responsibility and the Mentally Ill Offender

The Structure of Death Penalty Arguments

The Conflation of Competence and Capacity in English Medical Law: A Philosophical Critique

A principled and cosmopolitan neuroethics: considerations for international relevance

The Singleton case: enforcing medical treatment to put a person to death

Similar Documents

The Singleton case: enforcing medical treatment to put a person to death.

Does Communicative Retributivism Necessarily Negate Capital Punishment?

Belief and Death: Capital Punishment and the Competence-for-Execution Requirement

Exploring the similarities and differences between medical assessments of competence and criminal responsibility

On the person in personal health responsibility

Elliott, C.: 1996, The Rules of Insanity; Moral Responsibility and the Mentally Ill Offender

The Structure of Death Penalty Arguments

The Conflation of Competence and Capacity in English Medical Law: A Philosophical Critique

A principled and cosmopolitan neuroethics: considerations for international relevance

The Singleton case: enforcing medical treatment to put a person to death