Executions pose dilemma for doctors
Thursday, July 31st, 2008
By Staff
Medical board argues law's intent
Doctors were never meant to play an active role in executions, the N.C. Medical Board argues in a brief it filed Wednesday with the N.C. Supreme Court.
The board, which is embroiled in a legal challenge over the way North Carolina carries out the death penalty, contends that the state legislature used specific language requiring doctors to "be present" at executions, but explicitly did not say they should participate.
The role that doctors should play in executions is at the center of a controversy over the use of lethal injections for executions.
Prison officials sued the medical board last year after doctors refused to participate in executions for fear of being disciplined by the board. The lawsuit created a clash between the medical board's ethics policy, which prohibits doctors from participating in executions, and a state law that requires the Department of Correction to have a doctor present.
The legal standoff has resulted in a de facto moratorium on the death penalty in North Carolina.
A lower court judge ruled that the law requires a doctor to "attend and provide professional medical assessment" during executions. That requirement, the judge determined, trumped the medical board's opposition to doctors' participating. (more…)
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