The abortive execution of convicted Tennessee murderer Christa Pike last week was not just a reminder of the violent nature of capital punishment. No matter how one views the death penalty, the grisly details of this tragic incident should — to use a phrase coined by Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter — shock the conscience. As troubling have been the subsequent efforts to sustain her life, when she will be subjected to a lethal injection once more.

A physician and a veterinarian, respectively, we have both often treated critically ill patients. However, only one of us has legally ended the lives of a sizable proportion of them. As ethicists in our respective fields, we believe that animal euthanasia may offer useful insight into capital punishment.

For pets, the process of imposing death is relatively straightforward. Companion animal euthanasia is a therapeutic intervention to mitigate suffering; when conducted properly, the process spares the subject both........

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