Gridlock News

The North Carolina Medical Board emerged as a defacto political body capable of vetoing the judiciary, executive and legislative branches powers.  The Medical Board decided that it would no longer allow physicians to attend the execution of convicts sentenced to the death penalty as this would contradict the ethics of the board and its doctors.

The board would allow a nurse to monitor the inmate and notify a doctor if any circumstance came up that would delay or prevent the execution when the inmate required medical attention, beyond death from the proceedings that is.

The ruling has had direct and immediate impact on death row inmates.  A Judge has delayed the execution of three inmates that would have been put to death this week and during the next two.  The Judge has cited 1909 laws that indicate the legislative branch and the governor will have to either re-approve or redraft the legislation for death penalties.  Furthermore, such a reworking of law almost 100 years old is sure to bring many constitutional challenges for the future new versions that will be untested in the worlds of the courts.

If similar state boards around the country were to make the same decision, death penalty exercises throughout the US could come to a stand still.  Furthermore, it might be unlikely for politicians to stand behind legislation that runs contrary to the stated ethics of doctors across the country.  In which case the death penalty could be halted indefinitely, bringing physicians into a defacto position of authority in this matter.