GETTING POLITICAL BIASES MADE PART OF PROFESSIONAL ETHICS IS TOO CLEVER BY HALF

If such rules are enforced that will just lead to the discrediting and ditching of the professional ethics concerned

When Gov. Ernie Fletcher signed a death warrant for a convicted killer this month, he may have done more than start the clock ticking on an execution. Some say Fletcher, a doctor, may have put his medical license at risk. American Medical Association guidelines bar doctors from taking part, directly or indirectly, in executions. And Kentucky requires doctors to follow AMA ethical guidelines. "I think it's a clear violation," said Dr. Arthur Zitrin, an 86-year-old retired psychiatrist in New York and an outspoken death-penalty opponent. Zitrin is also challenging the license of a Georgia doctor accused of helping nurses find a vein in a condemned man for a lethal injection.

A group of doctors is seeking an opinion from the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure on whether Fletcher can sign death warrants without running the risk of having his medical license revoked. The board is not scheduled to take up the matter until at least January, and would not comment in the meantime.

On Nov. 8, Fletcher signed a death warrant for 51-year-old Thomas Clyde Bowling, convicted of shooting to death the husband-and-wife owners of a dry cleaning business outside their store in 1990. Bowling is set to die by lethal injection Nov. 30. Fletcher's executive counsel, John Roach, said the Republican governor did not violate AMA guidelines or other ethical standards. "By signing a death warrant, in no way is Gov. Ernie Fletcher participating in the conduct of an execution," Roach said. "Gov. Fletcher's role under the law is consistent with the roles of judges fulfilling their legal duty and jurors fulfilling their legal obligations regardless of their professions."

The AMA guidelines forbid doctors to actively take part in an execution or to take any "action which would directly cause the death of the condemned" or "which would assist, supervise or contribute" to the death of the inmate.....

Fletcher, 52, earned his medical degree at the University of Kentucky and was a family practitioner until he was elected to Congress in 1998. He was elected governor last year and is still licensed as a physician in Kentucky.

The Federation of State Medical Boards said it has no information on any doctors who may have been disciplined for taking part in an execution. Not all states incorporate AMA guidelines into state law. For example, it would not be illegal in California for a physician to participate in an execution, according to Candis Cohen, spokeswoman for the Medical Board of California.

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL hospitals and health insurance schemes should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the very poor and minimal regulation.

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