Profession
Doctor, nurse take part in N.C. execution
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted May 22, 2006
Over the objections of state and national medical societies, an unidentified physician and nurse in April participated in the North Carolina execution of 61-year-old convicted murder Willie Brown Jr.
The physician and nurse monitored a bispectral index monitor that was connected to Brown to ensure that he was unconscious before being injected with paralytic and heart-stopping drugs. The maker of the monitor, Aspect Medical Systems, said it never intended for the machine's use in an execution. The AMA, the American Society of Anesthesiologists and the North Carolina Society of Anesthesiologists called the physician's involvement unethical.
A North Carolina Medical Society spokesman said the group opposes physician participation in execution generally, but did not comment on the Brown case specifically.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2006/05/22/prbf0522.htm.
