I'm always happy when something happens that shows what a joke capital punishment is. Right now, California finds itself in the unfortunate position of being the punchline to that joke:
State officials on Tuesday postponed indefinitely the execution of a condemned killer, saying they would be unable to comply with a judge's order that a medical professional administer the lethal injection.
Prison authorities called off the execution after failing to find a doctor, nurse, or other person licensed to inject medications to give a fatal dose of barbiturate, said Vernell Crittendon, a spokesman for San Quentin State Prison.
"We are unable to have a licensed medical professional come forward to inject the medication intravenously, causing the life to end," he said.
Damn those medical professionals and their code of ethics.
U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel gave prison officials a choice last week: bring in doctors to ensure Morales was properly anesthetized, or skip the usual paralyzing and heart-stopping drugs and execute him with an overdose of a sedative.
Prison officials had planned to press forward with the execution Tuesday night using the second option. The judge approved that decision, but said the sedative must be administered in the execution chamber by a person who is licensed by the state to inject medications intravenously. That group would include doctors, nurses and other medical technicians.
Except, yep, that "do no harm" thingy got in the way. They couldn't find a single doctor who would do the deadly deed.
The state notified the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals late Tuesday afternoon that it did not intend to go forward with the execution, said Cathy Catterson, a clerk for the 9th Circuit.
But this is what the Bush White House has wanted all along, right? I mean, just a few years ago they were arguing that it wasn't a doctor's job to kill:
Attorney General John Ashcroft had ordered doctors in the state not to comply with a law allowing them to prescribe lethal doses of medication.
He ordered that doctors and pharmacists prescribing lethal doses of drugs should have their prescription licenses revoked.
And let's not forget Ashcroft's old boss George "err on the side of life" Dubya:
"I think it's important to promote a culture of life. I think a hospitable society is a society where every being counts and every person matters."
George, I'm so glad we finally agree on something.
Ummm.... I don't think that it what he had in mind...
Posted by: Dee | 2006.02.22 at 06:15 AM
There are so many contradictions in the pro life camp that you need a scorecard to keep up.
Posted by: Donna | 2006.02.22 at 06:57 AM
Closure, people. We need closure. Isn't anyone thinking about the closure?
Posted by: Mark | 2006.02.23 at 11:33 AM