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Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jim-thompson who wrote (73476)	2/21/2006 12:49:10 AM
From: paret	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 81568

The ACLU is sobbing for him.

To: jim-thompson who wrote (73476)	2/21/2006 4:45:30 AM
From: paret	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 81568

RIP Terri us.news3.yimg.com In this undated photo released by the California Attorney General's Office Terri Winchell is shown. Michael Morales, 46, of Stockton, was convicted in 1983 of murdering 17-year-old Terri Winchell, who was found beaten and stabbed in a secluded vineyard. (AP Photo/California Attorney General's Office, HO) Morales choked Winchell with a leather belt. He used such force that the belt broke but failed to kill the young woman. Next, he took a hammer and pounded her skull 23 times, fracturing her jaw and cheek bones and shattering the base of her skull. That still did not kill her, so he raped her and plunged a knife four times into her chest, leaving her to die in a Lodi vineyard. ______________________________________________________________ Morales' Execution Draws Criticism From Medical Community Written for the web by Nicole Chavez, Reporter A federal appeals judge the judge (Fogel)is a Clinton appointee ordered the state to provide anesthesiologists to monitor the scheduled execution of Michael Morales. Some physicians are calling their involvement unethical. The two anesthesiologists will make sure Morales is fully unconscious before receiving the second and third injections in the three-drug cocktail that constitutes lethal injection. It will be the first time a physician directly assists in California's execution chamber. Until now, only trained prison workers administered lethal injections in California, not medical personnel. The California Medical Association as well as the American Medical Association calls the action unethical and immoral. Dr. Jack Lewin of the CMA says, "We do not believe it's ethical for doctors to participate in executions. This is not our business. We're not here to terminate people's lives." Former AMA President Dr. Lonnie Bristow argues that assisted executions violate a code of ethics that doctors serve to heal, not to kill. "It's like bringing a priest to do the execution." U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel a Clinton appointee ordered the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to comply with one of two options to minimize any pain or suffering for Morales during the lethal injection procedure. One option was to administer only the sedative sodium thiopental. The five milligram dosage is lethal by itself, but could prolong the execution by 40 to 45 minutes. The state choose to comply with the second option of having two board-certified, private practice anesthesiologists present. One will serve as the primary doctor with the other as a back-up. The anesthesiologist will monitor whether Morales is rendered unconscious by the sodium thiopental before lethal doses pancouronium bromide and potassium chloride, respectively, are administered. The three-chemical combination generally takes eight to 10 minutes to cause death. Attorneys for Morales had appealed to stay their client's execution on the argument lethal injection is unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment. Fogel made clear he would not block the execution but said evidence from several prior San Quentin executions raised "at least some doubt as to whether protocol actually is functioning as intended." The anesthesiologists participating in the 12:01 am execution aren't being identified. If they do become known, they could be brought before the medical board for ethical violations. _______________________________________________________ Morales and his attorneys complained that the prisoner might feel too much pain if the sedative he is given doesn't make him unconscious before a paralyzing agent and the final heart-stopping drugs begin coursing through his veins.