Post by thinkinkmesa on Mar 14, 2007 1:09:36 GMT -5
Unable to carry out execution, state sues N.C. Medical Board
By ESTES THOMPSON
Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
RALEIGH, N.C. - Unable to find a doctor willing to monitor an upcoming execution, state prison officials asked a court on Tuesday to strip the North Carolina Medical Board of its power to discipline physicians who help the state put condemned inmates to death.
The board's threat in January to punish any doctor who takes part in an execution had effectively shut down the death penalty in North Carolina.
But the state argued Tuesday that executions aren't medical procedures, and therefore don't fall under the board's jurisdiction.
Because Central Prison Warden Marvin Polk can't find a doctor willing to take part, the state said prison officials will be unable to carry out the execution of Allen Holman, who was scheduled to die at 2 a.m. Friday. The dispute led a judge to stay his execution Tuesday afternoon.
"The potential for disciplinary action against licensed physicians has prevented (officials) from locating a licensed physician willing to be present for the execution of defendant Allen Richard Holman," the state said in its lawsuit.
State law only requires a doctor be present at an execution. But last year, a federal judge allowed an execution to go forward only after the state said a doctor would monitor the inmate to ensure he didn't feel pain as officials injected him with a combination of three deadly chemicals.
The medical board responded in January, declaring that any doctor who participates in an execution violates medical ethics and risks sanction.
The resulting conflict _ termed a "Gordian knot" by Gov. Mike Easley _ has led Wake County Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens to place five scheduled executions on hold. Holman's execution had remained on track only because he insisted he wanted to die and fired his lawyers, who filed a request this week to stay his execution anyway.
Holman, 47, was sentenced to die for the 1997 slaying of his wife in Wake County. His former lawyer, Mary Pollard, has written that Holman had a history of mental illness and a federal judge has said Holman had tried to commit suicide in the past.
Challenges to lethal injection _ namely, whether it violates the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment _ have effectively placed executions on hold in 11 states. The question of doctor participation has figured in some of those disputes.
In California and Missouri, for example, executions have been on hold for months after federal judges in both states ordered anesthesiologists to monitor executions. Officials in both states were unable to find such a doctor willing to participate.
The American Medical Association has said for more than 20 years that physicians who take part in executions violate medical ethics, but the organization has no power to punish. That job falls to the state medical boards that license doctors, and North Carolina's medical board is apparently the first to make such a threat.
A spokeswoman for the medical board did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
"We'll let the filings speak for themselves," said Keith Acree, a spokesman for the state Department of Correction.
By ESTES THOMPSON
Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
RALEIGH, N.C. - Unable to find a doctor willing to monitor an upcoming execution, state prison officials asked a court on Tuesday to strip the North Carolina Medical Board of its power to discipline physicians who help the state put condemned inmates to death.
The board's threat in January to punish any doctor who takes part in an execution had effectively shut down the death penalty in North Carolina.
But the state argued Tuesday that executions aren't medical procedures, and therefore don't fall under the board's jurisdiction.
Because Central Prison Warden Marvin Polk can't find a doctor willing to take part, the state said prison officials will be unable to carry out the execution of Allen Holman, who was scheduled to die at 2 a.m. Friday. The dispute led a judge to stay his execution Tuesday afternoon.
"The potential for disciplinary action against licensed physicians has prevented (officials) from locating a licensed physician willing to be present for the execution of defendant Allen Richard Holman," the state said in its lawsuit.
State law only requires a doctor be present at an execution. But last year, a federal judge allowed an execution to go forward only after the state said a doctor would monitor the inmate to ensure he didn't feel pain as officials injected him with a combination of three deadly chemicals.
The medical board responded in January, declaring that any doctor who participates in an execution violates medical ethics and risks sanction.
The resulting conflict _ termed a "Gordian knot" by Gov. Mike Easley _ has led Wake County Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens to place five scheduled executions on hold. Holman's execution had remained on track only because he insisted he wanted to die and fired his lawyers, who filed a request this week to stay his execution anyway.
Holman, 47, was sentenced to die for the 1997 slaying of his wife in Wake County. His former lawyer, Mary Pollard, has written that Holman had a history of mental illness and a federal judge has said Holman had tried to commit suicide in the past.
Challenges to lethal injection _ namely, whether it violates the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment _ have effectively placed executions on hold in 11 states. The question of doctor participation has figured in some of those disputes.
In California and Missouri, for example, executions have been on hold for months after federal judges in both states ordered anesthesiologists to monitor executions. Officials in both states were unable to find such a doctor willing to participate.
The American Medical Association has said for more than 20 years that physicians who take part in executions violate medical ethics, but the organization has no power to punish. That job falls to the state medical boards that license doctors, and North Carolina's medical board is apparently the first to make such a threat.
A spokeswoman for the medical board did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
"We'll let the filings speak for themselves," said Keith Acree, a spokesman for the state Department of Correction.