"The State Had Not Lived Up To Its Words"

A story in the N&O this morning underlines the fundamental disregard for the letter and spirit of the law (not to mention medical ethics) that the legal system and oversight agencies of state of North Carolina have demonstrated over and over again.

North Carolina prison officials persuaded a federal judge to let an execution proceed by promising that a doctor would monitor the prisoner's vital signs, but the doctor did not, a judge ruled Thursday.

Honestly given what I endured as a physician in public service, the lie to get the job done does not surprise me. The wink and nod is the way of the state's world.

Administrative Judge, Fred G. Morrison, Jr., also spewed some venom in the NC Medical Board's direction: Under the Medical Board's ethics policy, doctors who participate in an execution could face disciplinary action. In his ruling, Morrison said doctors should not be punished for monitoring whether a death row prisoner is suffering unduly.

"They want help, not harm from a doctor," Morrison said. "To threaten to discipline a doctor for helping in this manner is not regulating medicine for the benefit of the people of North Carolina. [The death penalty] is part of North Carolina's public policy, which is not to be stymied by a non-binding position statement."

It's my medical opinion that Morrison's legal opinion is political suck-up. I, more than most doctors know the perils of adhering to the Medical Board's "non-binding" position statements. I also know something of being threatened. I lost everything I held dear because I put a patient first (saving a life), and foolishly thought the Medical Board would back me up with all the power the state had to bear. I was (sadly) very naive and very wrong. But let's translate what Morrison's shot at the Medical Board actually means: "To threaten a doctor for helping to KILL A HUMAN BEING is not regulating medicine for the benefit of the people of North Carolina."

It's a nonsensical sentence.

Not very respectfully, Judge Morrison, medicine (and doctors) should not be in this equation of death AT ALL. If it is the public policy of the state of North Carolina that capital punishment is necessary in some circumstances (and for the record, it's a policy I agree with), then the state needs to figure out how to do it without involving those sworn to FIRST DO NO HARM.

The Medical Board (of course), in the ivory tower, has had no comment.

They can use mine.