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No Discipline Allowed by North Carolina Medical Board of Physicians who Participate in Executions

The Wake County, North Carolina Superior Court ruled Friday that the North Carolina Medical Board may not discipline physicians who participate in executions. The court held that state requirements that a physician ‘attend [executions] and provide professional medical assessment’ supersede the Medical Board’s ethical prohibition of doctor participation in carrying out the death penalty.

A North Carolina judge last year ordered and The Council of State approved, a new lethal injection protocol that required physicians to monitor inmates during executions. North Carolina law now mandates that a physician must assess the inmate’s vital signs and prevent an execution where undue suffering exists. Doctors, however, felt compelled to comply with the Medical Board’s policy that forbids physicians from participation. The policy, which was issued in January, states that physicians may be present during executions but those who participate are subject to discipline as such participation goes against the role of a physician to preserve life.

The court denied the Medical Board’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed by the North Carolina State Department of Corrections in March, which claims that the ethics policy prevents state prison officials from carrying out executions. The court indeed delayed two executions in January when physicians refused to participate.

Source: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/711786.html; http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/09/north-carolina-medical-board-cant.php