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AJC.com > Legislature > Blog > Archives > 2006 > February > 16 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USHouse bill protects doctors in executions
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Georgia House overwhelmingly approved legislation today to protect physicians who assist the state in carrying out the death penalty through lethal injection.
Lawyers for anti-death penalty doctors have sued to try to force the state to punish doctors who participate in executions, alleging they are violating the American Medical Association’s code of ethics, as well as their Hippocratic Oath.
HB 57, which passed 157 to 1 without debate, would protect any doctor or medical professional who assists in an execution from having their state license challenged, suspended or revoked.
It would apply to executions that take place after July 1.
State Rep. David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge), chairman of a House judiciary committee, said this only became an issue after the state decided in 2001 to allow lethal injection as an alternative to the electric chair.
“Since then there have been challenges to the licensure of people who participate,� Ralston said.
Last July, Dr. Arthur Zitrin, a retired psychiatrist and death penalty opponent from New York, filed suit in Fulton County Superior Court to try to force the state Composite Board of Medical Examiners to take action against Georgia doctors who help with state executions.
In 2004, Zitrin tried without success to get the composite board to revoke the license of a doctor who helped the state Department of Corrections carry out lethal injections.
The medical board refused to investigate Dr. Hothur V. Sanjeeva Rao, who later quit helping the prison system perform executions.
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