5 nurses and a doctor in libya gave 400 children HIV ON PURPOSE. do they deserve the death penalty?

Question

5 bulgarian nurses and a bulgarian doctor have been sentenced to death for purposely infecting over 400 small children with HIV. the EU and the US are both condemning libya for being "too harsh" and saying the death penalty is "unwarranted."

in my personal opinion, i cannot think of another crime MORE deserving of the death penalty.

what do you think?

(note: nothing would make me happier than to find out it was all an accident, and these nurses did NOT do this on purpose. i hate to think there are people capable of such a horror. so, i am NOT debating whether they are guilty or not. what i am asking is, if they DID do this, do you feel they deserve to die?)

Answer 1

Yes. Without question.

Answer 2

A team of independent French scientists determined that the children acquired the AIDS virus before the Nurses arrived.

This happened because of the lax sterilization protocols and the use of dirty needles by the Libyan staff.

Someone should be held resposible, but not the Florence Nightingales who were doing good work in a backwater country.

Rather than take responsibility for this tragedy, the Libyan government decided to blame foreigners so they would not have to pay any court costs or have certain administrators and politicians take the blame.

Those baastards even allowed a couple of the nurses to be torotured to extract false testimony and false confessions.

That is why we always have to check sources and not go flying off the handle before we know the facts....

And I am no bleeding heart, if someone killed my kid, i would want the death penalty too, but not against an innocent.

Answer 3

The genetics of the HIV that infected those children has shown that they acquired it before the nurses and the physician undertook caring for them.
Libya does not have a modern medical system, and they lack the basic asceptic setting that most of us would consider acceptable. If not for their lack proper health care the foreign nurses and doctors would have never been there in the first place.
I think it's a disgrace to take out the problems of THEIR country on the people who went their to help. If this is allowed to continue then health care workers with the skills these poor countries need will not go, and they will not help. How many will die then?
How about they spend a little less time trying to blame the nurses and the doctor, and a little more time trying to fix the problems in their health care system. Think of all the money they have wasted incarcerating these people and trying them that could have been used to provide proper medical care to the people in their country.
This is Libya folks, not exactly the mecca of "honesty and modernization"!

Answer 4

You need to get the facts first:

These 6 defendents could not have contributed to the deaths from AIDS. According to internationally known scientists and AIDs researchers, "HIV infection was present in the hospital even before the nurses arrived and that the children had already been infected by the time they did." (BBC) Whether or not they were tortured into confessing, they should face no punishment. Indeed, it is the Libyan authorities who have pursued this ill conceived case who should be punished. The 6 defendents should be set free immediately.

As an aside, it is interesting that there are numerous cases in the United States where prisoners have confessed to crimes they did not commit. These include cases where the defendent was retarded (confessing to please the interrogators) or was very young and manipulated into thinking he could go home once he confessed. Many convictions based on these false confessions have been overturned, including some where the defendent had been sentenced to death: Johnny Ross, Louisiana- confessed, sentenced to death in 1975, charges dropped 1981. Ronald Jones, Illinois- confessed and sentenced to death 1989, charges dismissed 1999. Earl Washington, Virginia, confessed and sentenced to death in 1984, given absolute pardon in 2000, with DNA evidence of his innocence. There is evidence that in some of these cases, the prisoner was beaten by the police. And there are many more false confessions for a variety of serious crimes which ended in life sentences.

The United States in very bad company in continuing to practice capital punishment. This group includes China, Saudi Arabia, Iran. Among the world's advanced democracies, only the United States and Japan are on this list.

Answer 5

IF this act was on purpose of course the nurses and the doctor deserve the death penalty, these children are going to die now. What about how innocent they are and helpless...

The nurses and doctor need to face the crimes they have committed. I believe that if this cruel act was not on purpose they should still face some consequence because innocent children are going to die now. Who was the MD? Maybe the Medical Director should be tried for something too. Someone was slacking.

Answer 6

I think that if they are guilty, then hell yeah they deserve to die. I think the condemnation is based on the lack of evidence (I'm not 100% about that, but what I understood is that the US and EU were calling it "scapegoating"). Some people believe that the children in question already had HIV. Really sad either way.

Answer 7

There was scientific evidence given at trial that the victims were already infected with HIV before being seen by the Bulgarian doctor and four nurses.

Answer 8

....

Requirements for Transmission of HIV to Occur
Three conditions must be met for HIV transmission to occur:

1. HIV must be present...
Infection can only happen if one of the persons involved is infected with HIV. Some people assume that certain behaviors (such as anal sex) cause AIDS, even if HIV is not present. This is not true.

2. ...in sufficient quantity...
The concentration of HIV determines whether infection may happen. In blood, for example, the virus is very concentrated. A small amount of blood is enough to infect someone. A much larger amount of other body fluids is needed for HIV transmission.

3. ...and it must get into the bloodstream.
It is not enough to come into contact with an infected fluid to become infected. Healthy, unbroken skin does not allow HIV to get into the body; it is an excellent barrier to HIV infection. HIV can enter only through an open cut or sore, or through contact with the mucous membranes in the anus and rectum, the genitals, the mouth, and the eyes.

Based on this info, DO YOU Think they nurse and docs did this?

Answer 9

You need to get your facts straight--it has been determined that the children were exposed to HIV long before that doctor and those nurses arrives, that is why their death penalty is being hailed as unwarranted....they aren't guilty and the government is trying to get the verficts set aside for that reason....

Answer 10

Well personally speaking I don't think two wrongs make a right-so I'm against the death penalty-but surely (if they intentionally did this)they should be sentenced to life in prison without any chance in hell of ever getting out-But if they did this: What was the motivation-was there a larger entity behind it?

Answer 11

IF they are guilty, they should be injected daily with the AIDS virus until they are HIV Positive, & forced to spend the rest of their lives in prison. The death penalty is too easy for them.

I believe the death penalty should be used very sparingly in cases where there is no doubt of guilt.