Illinois set to take doctors out of executions

Some states require physicians to be part of the execution process, which the AMA opposes.

By Andis Robeznieks, AMNews staff. July 28, 2003.

The Illinois State Medical Society is on the verge of winning a decade-long struggle to end mandated physician involvement in executions.

If Gov. Rod Blagojevich signs the bill into law, Illinois will be aligned with American Medical Association policy that opposes the direct involvement of physicians in executions (such as administering a lethal injection), and indirect involvement (like pronouncing the death of a prisoner).

"We worked hard at getting that passed, and our perseverance finally paid off," said ISMS President William E. Kobler, MD, a family physician from Rockford. "At long last, we're free from mandatory participation in the execution process."

The bill passed with unanimous votes in both houses of the Illinois General Assembly, and physicians were credited with doing the heavy lifting necessary to get the job done.

Dr. Kobler stressed that the medical society's opposition was not to capital punishment itself, but to physician involvement in the process.

"We try to keep separate from the issue of capital punishment, which is an issue people have strong opinions on," he said. "Whether you believe in capital punishment or not, physicians are dedicated to improving life and prolonging it, so involvement in executions is unethical."

Tom Schafer, a spokesman for the governor, said Blagojevich has until Aug. 5 to approve or to veto the bill.

The death penalty is a hot issue in Illinois. Earlier this year, in his last day as governor, George Ryan (a former pharmacist) made international headlines by declaring that the state's system of capital punishment was broken and commuting the sentences of Illinois death-row prisoners to life imprisonment.