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, amednews 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).

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"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.

Physician involvement unethical

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.

The new bill dictates that the "Dept. of Corrections shall not request, require or allow a health care practitioner licensed in Illinois, including but not limited to physicians and nurses, regardless of employment, to participate in an execution."

The governor must approve or veto the bill by Aug. 5.

The bill also would remove from the books part of a 1987 law that shields physicians from any sanctions stemming from violating medical society prohibitions against execution participation. In addition to keeping the doctor's identity secret -- going so far as to pay executing physicians in cash -- the law declared that assisting in or performing a lethal injection "shall not be construed to constitute the practice of medicine."

Although the executioner's identity still would remain secret, the new bill calls on the Dept. of Corrections to reveal names of health care professionals performing ancillary functions in executions and calls for the Dept. of Professional Regulation to forward the names to the appropriate disciplinary boards.

Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C., said the issue of physician involvement often comes up if a state adopts lethal injection as its method of execution.

That's what happened in Georgia three years ago when the state switched from electrocution to lethal injection. Georgia's law followed Illinois law, in that it says administration of a lethal injection does not constitute a practice of medicine, so participants are not subject to health care "regulation, licensure or certification." The Georgia law, however, also dictates that no state agency, department or official could "require or compel a physician to participate" in an execution.

In 2001, California passed a law removing doctors from executions. Previously, the law required the prison warden to "invite" two physicians to be present. Some saw this as coercion.

"If two doctors under the employment of the warden are 'invited' to be there, they are going to be there," said Michael J. Franzblau, MD, a San Rafael psychiatrist who had lobbied to change the law.