In Florida, doc­tors hired to mon­i­tor and par­tic­i­pate in lethal injec­tion exe­cu­tions wear pur­ple ​“moon suits” and gog­gles to con­ceal their iden­ti­ties from wit­ness­es and cir­cum­vent an American Medical Association (AMA) code that for­bids par­tic­i­pa­tion in exe­cu­tions, accord­ing to the Associated Press. Though Florida and oth­er states say the par­tic­i­pa­tion of med­ical per­son­nel ensures ​“a dig­ni­fied and humane death” for those fac­ing exe­cu­tion, the AMA, the American Nurses Association, the American Society of Anesthesiologists, and the Florida Medical Association all dis­agree.

​“We are a pro­fes­sion ded­i­cat­ed to heal­ing. Participation in an exe­cu­tion is an image of a physi­cian with a dark hood.… It is part of the role of a physi­cian, help­ing peo­ple, pre­serv­ing life and main­tain­ing the trust and respect of the peo­ple we serve. We do not feel killing peo­ple is appro­pri­ate in that con­text,” said Dr. Mark Levine, chair­man of the AMA’s Council of Ethical and Judicial Affairs. He added that doc­tors must decide whether they are ​“an instru­ment of the state or a mem­ber of a pro­fes­sion ded­i­cat­ed to pre­serv­ing and pro­tect­ing life. You can’t be both.“

The role of med­ical per­son­nel in exe­cu­tions is a key con­cern for states rework­ing lethal injec­tion pro­to­cols after exist­ing pro­ce­dures were chal­lenged as vio­lat­ing the Constitution’s ban on ​“cru­el and unusu­al pun­ish­ment.” A grow­ing num­ber of states have pro­posed lethal injec­tion pro­ce­dures that would allow med­ical per­son­nel to per­form a vari­ety of tasks, includ­ing the inser­tion of intra­venous tubes, per­form­ing ​“cut down” pro­ce­dures to locate use­able veins, observ­ing heart mon­i­tors, track­ing an inmate’s con­scious­ness, pur­chas­ing and main­tain­ing drugs used in the lethal cock­tail, and pro­nounc­ing death. All of these tasks present tough ques­tions for med­ical asso­ci­a­tions, which hold the pow­er to revoke mem­ber­ships for ethics code vio­la­tions. With that in mind, a num­ber of states are tak­ing steps to pro­tect the iden­ti­ties of med­ical pro­fes­sion­als who agree to par­tic­i­pate in exe­cu­tions. For exam­ple, in Missouri, a new law allows exe­cu­tion­ers to sue any­one who dis­clos­es their iden­ti­ty, leg­is­la­tion authored after a St. Louis paper revealed the name of a doc­tor who had par­tic­i­pat­ed in dozens of exe­cu­tions. In Alabama and Ohio, a cur­tain is drawn after the exe­cu­tion so doc­tors exam­in­ing the inmate are not seen by wit­ness­es. Florida is the only state to require that med­ical per­son­nel wear a moon suit sim­i­lar to those worn by bio­haz­ard teams.

Florida Governor Charlie Crist, the son of a physi­cian, admits that find­ing doc­tors will­ing to assist in lethal injec­tions is dif­fi­cult. When asked about the eth­i­cal dilem­ma faced by physi­cians, he said, ​“I don’t know. It’s pret­ty hard … the oath is tak­en to save life, of course.”
(Associated Press, August 26, 2007). See Lethal Injection.

Citation Guide