Way to Go
Our long, sad weekend is now behind us and only the emptiness of life without Beau lies ahead of us. The CFO especially misses him at night. Sam had a very long, mournful Monday but seems to have recovered. And, as for Q Beans, she never really knew an active Beau. We will, of course, get over his absence with time.
I've been following the discussion on capital punishment in North Carolina with interest. If I understand the issue, it's that a doctor is needed to ensure that condemned is sedated in such a way that they do not suffer a cruel and unusual punishment. Well, having observed the death of Old Beau by lethal injection at the White Oak Animal Hospital, I believe the solution to the whole thing is veterinary medicine. The injection was administed with compassion and dignity into a vein in Beau's foreleg. In what could have been no more than a half dozen beats of his heart, Beau lay his head down gently on the table, stopped breathin and was gone. After less than a minute, the veterinarian checked for vital signs and declared him dead. I cannot imagine a more humane way to go.
So, why not let veterinarians handle executions of condemned criminals? They have the skills from performing euthenasia, they have tools for achieving a quick death without any signs of trauma, and they are not bound by the Hippocratic oath. Were I the condemned, I would have no hesitation about asking for that young veterinarian to administer an injection like that she uses on large animals such as cows or horses, and to advise the State when I'm dead and gone a few moments later.
I've been following the discussion on capital punishment in North Carolina with interest. If I understand the issue, it's that a doctor is needed to ensure that condemned is sedated in such a way that they do not suffer a cruel and unusual punishment. Well, having observed the death of Old Beau by lethal injection at the White Oak Animal Hospital, I believe the solution to the whole thing is veterinary medicine. The injection was administed with compassion and dignity into a vein in Beau's foreleg. In what could have been no more than a half dozen beats of his heart, Beau lay his head down gently on the table, stopped breathin and was gone. After less than a minute, the veterinarian checked for vital signs and declared him dead. I cannot imagine a more humane way to go.
So, why not let veterinarians handle executions of condemned criminals? They have the skills from performing euthenasia, they have tools for achieving a quick death without any signs of trauma, and they are not bound by the Hippocratic oath. Were I the condemned, I would have no hesitation about asking for that young veterinarian to administer an injection like that she uses on large animals such as cows or horses, and to advise the State when I'm dead and gone a few moments later.
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