Doctors in executions

Great lengths go to shielding physician identities:

At all Florida lethal injections, a man in a purple moon suit leans over the dying inmate to listen for a heartbeat and feel for a pulse. After a few seconds, he nods, and the witnesses are informed that the death sentence has been duly carried out.
The man is a doctor and the gear shields his identity “” not just from the prisoner’s family and friends, but from the American Medical Association, whose code of ethics bars members from participating in executions.

Comments

Anonymous
The AMA does not speak for me. The AMA does not speak for the majority of physicians. What’s it down to now, about 20, 25% of practicing physicians are AMA members?
I don’t give a damn what they say about the “ethics” of physician participations in executions. The AMA sells my data to drug companies for profit. They wouldn’t know what ethics was it it bit them in the ass.
Greg P
The AMA “forbids” doctors at executions?!
For one thing he doesn’t have to belong to the AMA…
On a personal level, I don’t see a physician’s presence at an execution an essential feature, any more than one needs a physician to administer whatever lethal method to do the killing.
If the police find someone dead somewhere, it doesn’t seem they need a doctor to verify that the person is dead.
Anonymous
But if it makes the condemned happier to know that a physician is managing their execution, then physician participation is a good thing. The most recent wave of lawsuits about the cruel and unusual part of executions was the possibility of inexpert care leading to the condemned suffering. If I as a physician can put the patient’s worries to rest with my skills and prevent unnecessary suffering, then I have done a good thing.
Anonymous
I personally cannot imagine why any doctor would choose to be in this role – much like an abotion. Its not that I think abortion shouldn’t be legal I just cant imagine the tpe of person who would want to be involved in the end of something rather than the healing side of medicine.
Anonymous
Yet another reason (as if there aren’t enough already) that most physicians don’t belong to the AMA.
Gasman
It’s the same as paliative medicine. The condemned isn’t going to live much past midnight. He can go hard, with some schmucks poking the hell out of him to find a vein, then possibly screwing up the drugs.
If someone qualified, skilled, and compassionate treats him with the compassion of a hospice patient and eased his death then that is an admirable medical mission.
With my hospice peds patients people ask how can I deal with such sad and depressing situations. My answer is, if it is within my ability to help, how can I not? Same for those condemned by the state rather than by advanced malignancy.
As for the AMA, it wouldn’t recognize compassion if it bit it on it’s ass.
DR. MARY JOHNSON
They’re fighting about it in NC right now. The Medical Board, after years and years of looking the other way (while prison doctors mostly stood across the room and did a whole lot of nothing), passed a “position statement” declaring that for a doctor to participate in execution – in any way – was unethical, and not in keeping with “first do no harm”. The Board cited the AMA’s position.
I agree with the decision. Doctors do not belong in the equation. Venipuncture is not an advanced medical skill. And I’m not personally worried about the condemned feeling “happier” – given what the condemned are being executed for.
The NC Medical Board’s decsion opened the doors for all kinds of legal wailing and gnashing of teeth, and executions are on hold in NC until everyone dukes it out.
Given the ethical contortions of politicians and lawyers in NC to date, I expect they’ll find a way to get around it (although it might take a while).
As for the AMA, I agree with gasman and anon 11:23. I honestly do not understand why any hard-working MD would waste dues on that totally useless bunch of corporate sell-outs.

Doctors in executions

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