Saturday 17 November 2007

Banned doctor performing lethal injection


Banned doctor performing lethal injection


Published: Nov. 15, 2007 at 2:04 PM

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TERRE HAUTE, Ind., Nov. 15 (UPI) -- A dyslexic doctor cited in 20 malpractice suits and banned from practice in Missouri is the subject of inquiries into his role in capital punishment in Indiana.

A federal judge in Kansas City, Mo., barred Alan R. Doerhoff last year from participating "in any manner, at any level" in executions in Missouri for failing to disclose his dyslexia to a hospital.

U.S. District Judge Fernando J. Gaitan Jr. said he was "gravely concerned" that the doctor charged with "mixing the drugs which will be responsible for humanely ending the life of condemned inmates, has a condition which causes him confusion with regard to numbers."

Regardless, officials at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., placed Doerhoff in charge of inserting intravenous lines into condemned inmates, monitoring vital signs and signing death certificates, the Los Angeles Times said.

Doerhoff is listed as participating in more than 50 lethal injections and served as a protected witness for the defense in at least three trials challenging the constitutionality of the three-drug lethal injection cocktail.

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