Washington doctor resigns over death penalty

Last month, Washington state's Department of Corrections' top medical officer resigned in protest of the role of medical personnel in state executions.

The newspaper The Olympian explains:

The state Department of Corrections' top medical officer has resigned, saying that the use of agency staff members to prepare for an execution is unethical.

Dr. Marc Stern, who lives in Olympia, said the American Medical Association and Society of Correctional Physicians oppose physician involvement in executions, "and they say physicians should not supervise somebody who is involved in executions."

"The only way out we found was for me to recuse myself, and the only way I could recuse myself was to resign," he said.

The agency had been set to execute Darold Ray Stenson, convicted of murder, this month. The execution has been postponed.

Stern said he supervised about 700 people in prisons and other corrections facilities statewide. He said at least one of the people he supervised had been involved in execution preparations at Walla Walla State Penitentiary.

He told his superiors that he objected to his division's involvement, but no solution was found, he said.

>> Read the full article.

So the article says that "no solution was found" to the quandary of physician involvement in executions, which is opposed by the AMA and the Society of Correctional Physicians. In my mind, however, the solution is obvious: All physicians should abide by their mission of healing, not killing. Besides, doctors should be smart enough to see the absurdity in killing a human being to show that killing is wrong.

The physicians who work for the Department of Corrections should stick with what they do best: Treat the prisoners who become sick or injured.

And, above all, do no harm.