Titan Barksdale, a Raleigh N&O reporter, reads my blog . . .. as opposed to the more "local" News & Record/Courier Tribune reporters who habitually ignore it. And Titan spoke with me by phone a while back regarding my published opinions of the NC Medical Board's belated ethical stand against physicians participating in executions.
I made allusions to our conversation here.
I'm gonna pretend I'm Cone now: My thoughts on this issue are addressed here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here (from whence the quote came).
I also went a few rounds with "Dr. Sue".
So I don't feel a lot of need to repeat myself. You-all can read.
As one might expect, there are a variety of medical voices out there with differing views on the matter. But, from the ivory towers of Chapel Hill to the battered front lines in podunk, the one thing we lowly MD's all seem to agree on is that doctors need to be making the decisions about what is medically ethical and what is not . . . not *&^%$#@ clueless hospital administrators or politicians . . . not some judge-who's-never-spent-a-day-in-medical-school kissing-up to the powers-that-be.
Dr. John Faulkner of Raleigh (I would presume the John Faulkner mentioned in this post) thinks that physicians should be able to make their own decisions about participating in executions on the state's terms. His view is that the condemned inmate is a patient no different from those dying of something besides an order of the Court. My problem with that notion is that those other folks are not being purposely injected with dead-juice.
Me, I think "First Do No Harm" MEANS "First Do No Harm" and that the state's terms suck. It is a fact that physicians were put into the equation of lethal injection to sooth everyone's consciences . . . to "sanitize" killing sanctioned/ordered by the state. But from where I see it, the Medical Oath is not one of those things that is open to interpretation. Doctors do not belong in the death chamber.
I mean, come on. "Lethal injection". Sounds pretty harmful to me. And no matter how you slice it (bad pun), death hurts.
Unlike some of the more prominent doctors & ethicists mentioned in Titan's article, I won't be writing the Medical Board another letter. It's clearly a waste of time. I expect the lawyers over there are reading my blog anyway.
I know I have a target on my back . . . for talking back.
Besides, Dr. Faulkner inspired me. Ergo, I'm seriously thinking about suing the Board (along with the NC Attorney General's Office, NCDHHS and the NC State Bar) when I get home . . . regarding another "unfortunate matter" of medical ethics and law long ignored. Based on my sad experience in public service, it's clearly a myth that we in North Carolina are all equal under the law. These sorry excuses for regulatory bodies & law enforcement need to be sued within an inch of their lives. They have so not played fair.
I digress. From the N&O article:
Mary Johnson, an Asheboro physician who writes about medical issues, disagrees with Faulkner and Stephens.
After Stephens' ruling in September, she wrote that medical ethics had "gone out of the window."
No surprise to her
"I am not at all surprised," Johnson wrote about Stephens' ruling. "Many, many good-ole-boys in Raleigh want executions to get moving again -- no matter what, no matter how. If the lawyers that actually run the Medical Board have any [courage] at all, they will appeal the ruling."
Yep. That's [almost] what I said. And I stand by it.
Now the nice thing about having a blog is being able to clarify. I really liked Titan Barksdale. As reporters go (and I've met a few in my time), it was clear he had done his homework before he talked to me. And unlike some local bloggers I know, he knew that his review of my website and blog in no way made him an expert. Titan was also honest and upfront and quoted me in context. He gets extra points for that.
But a couple of minor things. First, Titan might have mentioned that I'm not a "liberal tree hugger" on this issue, and actually believe that capital punishment is a necessary evil. Society requires/demands ultimate justice sometimes . . . "an eye for an eye". "Render unto Caesar . . . " and all that. I just don't think the state should should have ever put doctors in the middle. The state of North Carolina seems to have a very hard time recognizing and/or protecting the unique responsibilities doctors have . . . beyond just giving them a license and throwing them to the wolves-in-suits.
Second, printing my blog address (where Titan found the quote) might have been nice.
Third, Titan might have mentioned that I write about medical issues because I got screwed by a Medical Board and state government that did not give anything more than patronizing lip service to medical ethics when I was forced to choose between a baby's life and my job/own life & happiness.
Fourth, I note that the male doctors mentioned in the article got "Dr." before their names when first mentioned. I just got "Mary Johnson".
We girls always get less respect. It's a sore spot. In Titan's case, I'm quite sure it was a genuine oversight (as opposed to a calculated one . . . the kind of thing I've been on the opposite end of many times - mostly by posturing lawyers). Like I said, Titan impressed me as being a nice guy.
And finally, I did not say "courage". I said "balls". And that, I'm also quite sure, was not Titan's call.
But let's be clear that I did have the balls to say balls.
Just like I've had the balls to do a lot of things I've had to do . . . alone and in the middle of the night . . . when there was no one between a baby and the drain but me.
But hey, it's much more important to the very important people running the state of North Carolina that doctors be forced to take a life, rather than be protected when they save one.
Update: Well, what do you know? The Medical Board "stood on principle" and appealed the ruling.
Standing on principle. That's a first. I've been waiting nearly ten years for them to do that.
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