CMA Sponsors Bill to Eliminate Physician
Participation In Executions
[Posted 02/22/06]

Reacting to an attempt by state officials to have physicians take an active role in executing a prisoner at San Quentin State Prison, CMA announced this week that it is sponsoring a bill that would eliminate physician involvement in all future executions.

“Physicians should be treating people’s illnesses, not participating in their execution,” said CMA CEO Jack Lewin, M.D. “Participation in an execution goes against long-standing principles of professional ethics and is a violation of the Hippocratic oath: First, do no harm.”

CMA has a long history of opposing physician participation in executions. That opposition was rekindled this past week as physicians from around the state phoned and e-mailed CMA offices to express their distress and concern because the state had hired two anesthesiologists to participate in the execution of Michael Morales.

In 2001, CMA sponsored a bill that prevented physicians from being compelled to participate in an execution. The bill protected physicians employed by the state Department of Corrections from being forced to violate medical ethics and professional standards.

The latest bill would go further and bar the state from having a physician participate in any way. Under the proposed legislation, participation would include rendering technical advice regarding the execution; prescribing, administering, or supervising the use of any drug that is part of the execution procedure; monitoring vital signs on site or remotely; attending an execution as a physician; or determining the moment of death.

In the Morales case, a federal judge ordered San Quentin officials to ensure Morales would not suffer undue pain during his execution, either by administering fatal levels of sedatives exclusively or having an anesthesiologist present to ensure that Morales would be unconscious before they deliver the standard mix of sedatives, paralytic agents, and heart-stopping chemicals.

Although two anesthesiologists had initially agreed to participate by verifying that the execution was painless, those physicians withdrew before the morning execution could take place, deciding that their involvement would be “ethically unacceptable.”

Contact: CMA Media Relations, 916/444-5532 or pwarren@cmanet.org.