NC Lethal injection update
“Should doctors monitor execution? High court wants clarification on law,” is the title of Dan Kane’s report in the News & Observer.
The debate over the word “present” has created a de facto moratorium on executions in North Carolina.
The legal battle pits the N.C. Medical Board against the Department of Correction, which wants a doctor to make sure lethal injections are properly administered. That, the department says, guards against a violation of the constitutional law against cruel and unusual punishment.
But the medical board contends that lawmakers, in requiring a doctor’s presence, only meant that the doctor should certify that an inmate was executed. Taking part in the execution by monitoring an inmate’s vital signs would violate a doctor’s basic mission to preserve life, the board says.
That has prevented the Department of Correction from finding doctors to monitor executions.
Several justices peppered the attorneys with questions during an hourlong hearing. Associate Justice Edward Thomas Brady quickly challenged Todd Brosius, a lawyer for the medical board, on the legislature’s intent in having a doctor present.
“The physicians are trained to save people,” Brosius said. “They are not trained to kill people.”
“Aren’t they trained to detect pain and suffering?” Brady asked.
Brady and other justices also challenged state Assistant Attorney General Joseph Finarelli, who argued that lawmakers meant for doctors to do more than attend and certify death.
