Two anesthesiologists appointed by a California court to attend the execution of Michael Morales refused to participate. Normally doctors are not involved in executions – this situation came about because Morales’ lawyers argued that the drugs used for execution were likely to cause pain to their client.
This follows the recent CA execution of Tookie Williams by lethal injection. Eyewitnesses described the 12 minutes it took for staff to find a vein in Tookie’s arm. After the drugs were finally administered, it took Williams “several minutes” to die.
Morales is still going to die – the judge offered an alternative plan of giving a large dose of sedatives, instead of having the doctors present. The scene seems barbaric and surreal.
The execution of a convicted murderer has been delayed in the United States after doctors refused to participate because of ethical objections.
Michael Morales was set to become the first inmate to be put to death by lethal injection in California under a procedure that aims to minimise pain.
Morales, 46, was convicted of the rape and murder of a teenage girl in 1981.
BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Doctors halt ‘painless’ execution