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N.C. medical board appeals execution ruling

NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Nov. 5, 2007

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The North Carolina Medical Board will appeal a Wake County (N.C.) Superior Court ruling that said the board lacked the authority to discipline doctors who actively participate in executions.

In January, the board adopted a position statement -- modeled on the American Medical Association's ethical policy -- saying physicians could be present at executions in a professional role as state law requires. But it said any activity that aids the execution could result in disciplinary action.

The state's corrections department sued, alleging that the policy made it impossible to find a physician to attend executions. The trial court ruled that legislators intended doctors to play an active role in the death chamber and that because execution is not a medical procedure, it falls outside the medical board's jurisdiction.

In a statement announcing its decision to appeal, the medical board said it stands by its capital punishment policy and "continues to believe that it accurately reflects the ethics of the medical profession and the board's authority to discipline physicians for violating medical ethics." That principle "should not be abandoned," the statement said.

The North Carolina Medical Society has taken a neutral stance on the medical board policy and litigation. The society is considering whether to respond to the medical board's decision to appeal, a spokesman said.

Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2007/11/05/prbf1105.htm.

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