Botched execution MD: Medical ethics don’t apply because the prisoner always dies.
Go to original by NATHAN CRABBE Sun staff writer
TAMPA – A doctor who oversaw the botched execution of Angel Diaz testified Monday that lethal injection shouldn’t be scrutinized as if it were a medical procedure.
“There’s nothing medical about it nor to equate to it. An execution has absolutely nothing even remotely connected to medicine,” said the doctor, whose voice was disguised to protect his identity.
The comments came before Florida’s commission on lethal injection, in response to questions about decisions in the Diaz execution that defied typical medical procedures and state guidelines.
The doctor suggested that once the execution starts, medical concerns are irrelevant.
“From that point onward, the condemned inmate will not leave the death chamber alive,” he said.
The doctor testified by speaker phone on the commission’s last day of testimony. The 11-member panel holds its final meeting Saturday, where it will discuss recommended changes to the state’s lethal injection process.
