02/14/2006

Doctor Deplores Bringing Anesthesiologist into Death Chamber

CALIFORNIA, Feb. 14 /Christian Newswire/ -– Today, U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel ruled that prison officials must either change the drugs they use in California’s lethal injection procedure or have an anesthesiologist present in the execution chamber to monitor the inmate during the procedure. In response, Jonathan I. Groner MD, clinical associate professor of surgery at The Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health and national expert on lethal injection issued the following statement:

The American Medical Association has developed ethical guidelines on physician participation in capital punishment. These guidelines, which are nationally recognized, state that:

A physician, as a member of a profession dedicated to preserving life when there is hope of doing so, should not be a participant in a legally authorized execution.

Physician participation in an execution includes, but is not limited to, the following actions: prescribing or administering tranquilizers and other psychotropic agents and medications that are part of the execution procedure; monitoring vital signs on site or remotely (including monitoring electrocardiograms); attending or observing an execution as a physician; and rendering of technical advice regarding execution. [emphasis added]

Physician participation in capital punishment violates a centuries-old trust between the medical community and the community at large. Physicians are supposed to be healers, not killers. That is why the AMA’s code of ethics prohibits physician involvement in executions. No patient in California should ever have to receive treatment from a doctor who participates in executions.

The American Society of Anesthesia, and the California Society of Anesthesiologists, and the California Medical Association should unconditionally condemn participation in executions by anesthesiologists.