In a fascinating development, the News & Observer reported today on another North Carolina physician put between an ethical rock and an economic hard place by our state's stupid, nonsensical, often contradictory and/or toothless laws governing the actions of physicians.
From the article: Dr. Obi Umesi is a contract physician with the prison system who works 12-hour evening shifts at Central Prison on Thursdays, when executions occur. He has been Wake County's jail doctor since 1991. Public records show Umesi has certified condemned inmates' deaths since 2003 and has been present at more executions than any other doctor -- at least 18 of the past 20.
Umesi stood in a small observation room near a brain-wave machine during the state's past two executions.
He said in an interview this week that as the inmates died just a few feet away, he did not monitor their level of consciousness, and prison officials never asked him to, despite a federal judge's order requiring that.
The question of whether Dr. Obi Umesi can stand in the observation room with a heart monitor and brain-wave monitor and not track a dying man's vital signs is at the center of a legal dilemma that has delayed five executions in this state.
Defense lawyers for condemned inmates have argued that executions are cruel and unusual if a doctor is not there to make sure the condemned inmate is unconscious when he/she is killed. At one point, it was even argued that a specialist in anesthesiology should be present. The state nixed that idea . . . but did put a brain-wave moniter in the equation. And a doctor has to be there to ensure the execution goes smoothly and is conducted "humanely".
But the Medical Board suddenly developed a conscience, and declared that the doctor cannot do anything to intervene . . . even if something goes wrong . . . and if they do "participate" in any way, they can be disciplined.
How many lawyers does it take to screw one doctor?
If Umesi monitored the dying man's consciousness, he might have violated his profession's ethical rules. Until this year, the NC Medical Board has essentially stood around and done a whole lot of nothing in terms of taking an ethical stand on the state forcing a physician to participate (actively or passively) in the execution process.
I am familiar with this Medical Board standing around and doing a whole lot of nothing for doctors trying to do the right thing.
If (Umesi) did not (moniter the moniter), the state would be violating the judge's order.
The Attorney General's office is unhappy with Dr. Umesi because what the good doctor said in his interview appears to contradict testimony he gave during deposition in December to the state's chief legal eagles (who represent the prison system).
The AG's office, of course, doesn't give a rat's tail about Dr. Umesi. He (and the other prison docs caught in the crossfire) have to get their own lawyers.
I am familiar with that kind of thing too: A public service Pediatrician gets loan repayment through the state's Department of Heath & Human Services/Office of Rural Health . . . but when she is professionally crucified by lying, greedy "non-profit" hospital administrators ("non-profits" are licensed by the state), our Attorney General's office (which represents NCDHHS) bends over backwards to look the other way.
A state law protects the identities of those involved in executions. When the AG's office release Umesi's deposition (in a snit and a fairly obvious effort to discredit him), he was identified as "Team Member 3".
Of course, in order to keep his job, Umesi has to be one of those "team players".
Kinda like to be a "team player", Dr. Mary Johnson had to decide between probably loosing her job and doing her duty to help a critically-ill newborn baby.
These are not the kind of choices a physician should have to make.
Prison officials and their lawyers have repeatedly said in court records and at court hearings (public record) that the doctor who is present at the execution signs the condemned inmate's death certificate.
A separate state law requires the warden to send a letter verifying that the inmate was executed to the clerk of court in the county where the inmate was sentenced the death. The warden and the prison physician sign that letter. Again, it's public record.
Kinda like confidentiality laws were splattered all over the wall when peer and medical board review documents Dr. Mary Johnson authored were released by hosptial officials (who should not have had them) during discovery.
Reminds you of the GPD fiasco and that pesky "confidential" RMA report.
I bet Dr. Umesi (and the other prison doctors who have had to play this ugly game) are feeling real protected right now.
I know I did.
Not.
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2 comments:
As I told you I am medically challenged, but I know schitt when I read it and this was a big pile.
LOL. I hope you're talking about the newspaper's "account" of "this pile of schitt" and not my analysis, BB;-)
By the way, writing this schitt is apparently really exhausting for the N&O reporter.
But that's another story . . .
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