Administrative Judge Fred G. Morrison Jr. has ruled that North Carolina prison offi­cials failed to live up to their promise that a doc­tor would mon­i­tor Willie Brown’s vital signs dur­ing his 2006 exe­cu­tion. Morrison, in his rul­ing, stat­ed that the prison offi­cials’ assur­ances that a doc­tor would par­tic­i­pate in the exe­cu­tion had ​“per­suad­ed the judge to let them exe­cute Willie Brown.” He went on to note, ​“The doc­tor did not observe the inmate nor did he mon­i­tor vital signs.” Morrison’s rul­ing marks the first time in the cur­rent North Carolina exe­cu­tion pro­ce­dures debate that a judge has found that the state failed to car­ry out promised protocol changes.

Morrison’s state­ment came in a rul­ing on a law­suit filed by North Carolina pris­on­ers against the Council of State, a pan­el of top elect­ed state offi­cials. The inmates main­tain that the coun­cil, head­ed by North Carolina Governor Mike Easley, should have heard argu­ments from attor­neys for death row inmates before approv­ing the state’s new exe­cu­tion pro­to­col on February 6, 2007. The pro­to­col approved by the Council of State requires a physi­cian to mon­i­tor a con­demned inmate’s ​“essen­tial body func­tions” and to tell the war­den if the inmate shows signs of suf­fer­ing. Morrison ruled that the coun­sel erred in not hear­ing from the inmates’ defense attor­neys and urged the group to recon­sid­er their deci­sion. He wrote, ​“They seemed intent on approv­ing the pro­to­col. …The essence of due process is the right to be heard … and it was not prop­er pro­ce­dure to con­sid­er only doc­u­ments and com­ments from those propos­ing the pro­to­col.”

The North Carolina Medical Board’s ethics pol­i­cy allows doc­tors to be present at an exe­cu­tion but pro­hibits them from par­tic­i­pat­ing in any way, includ­ing mon­i­tor­ing vital signs or oth­er bod­i­ly func­tions. Under the board­’s pol­i­cy, doc­tors who par­tic­i­pate in an exe­cu­tion could face dis­ci­pli­nary action. The con­flict between doc­tors’ eth­i­cal oblig­a­tions and the right of pris­on­ers to a humane death has effec­tive­ly halt­ed exe­cu­tions in North Carolina for near­ly a year. Five death row inmates have filed suit and their exe­cu­tions have been post­poned while the Medical Board, top state offi­cials, the courts and leg­is­la­tors con­sid­er the issue.

(The News & Observer, August 10, 2007). See Lethal Injection.

Citation Guide