A few threshold matters: Linda Emanuel is quite wrong; we do not "favor" physician participation in executions (sanctions that do not impede or destroy the ability of physicians who voluntarily choose to participate are proper), nor are we in favor of the death penalty itself (for the purposes of our article, we are agnostic on this subject). She is also wrong to assert that we incorrectly "assume that capital punishment is permissible." The second section of our article was devoted to establishing the logically inescapable conclusion that the ethical permissibility of capital punishment must be assumed if the issue of physician participation in it is to be reached. If it is unethical or a human rights abuse, then no one should participate, and our article is meaningless. We are baffled that our critics won't accept this point.
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