We have long believed that capital punishment is wrong in all cases, but even those who support it should not accept cruel procedures.
Similar claims by the scientific community in 19th-century England were used to support cruel procedures like vivisection on dogs, and other inhumane experiments continue to be conducted on nonhuman animals with the purpose of expanding knowledge about the human body and illness.
"They sacrificed the law to enforce cruel procedures," he said.
Up until the 1940s, the easiest way to engineer the classic western shot of a horse falling over was a cruel procedure known as the "Running W", whereby cables around the horse's legs tripped it up unawares, often fatally injuring it.
What is significant, nonetheless, is that a court of law found it acceptable to grant a warrant authorizing such a coercive cruel procedure.
This made it impossible for him to collaborate in the cruel judicial procedures of the day.
"The only course left to us is to refuse to participate … The AMA's own code of ethics states: 'regardless of society's attitudes, ensure that you do not countenance, condone or participate in the practice of torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman, or degrading procedures, whatever the offence of which the victim of such procedures is suspected, accused or convicted'.
According to the Tokyo Declaration, a physician should not "countenance, condone or participate in the practice of torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading procedures, whatever the offence of which the victim of such procedures is suspected, accused or guilty, and whatever the victim's beliefs or motives, and in all situations, including armed conflict and civil strife".
Bob Herbert's column exposed the flawed and often cruel new policies and procedures of the Department of Homeless Services.
The Australian Medical Association's code of ethics requires doctors to refrain from countenancing, condoning or participating in the practice of torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman, or degrading procedures regardless of society's attitudes, and not to enter into contracts which conflict with personal integrity, clinical independence and the primary obligation to the patient.
Torquemada used torture and confiscation to terrorize his victims, and his methods were the product of a time when judicial procedure was cruel by design.
