Politics: Can Gov/Dr. Fletcher ethically give the OK on the death penalty?

From the Herald-Leader.

Death penalty opponents are using unusual tactics to try to persuade Gov. Ernie Fletcher to commute the death sentence of a condemned man.

Fletcher, who campaigned on his medical and religious background, is now being asked to put those beliefs to the test.

Among the many arguments sent to Fletcher, perhaps one of the more distinctive and possibly problematic is a request that he not sign a death warrant because he is a doctor.

A group of more than 30 University of Kentucky medical students sent the governor a letter reminding the governor that the American Medical Association ethics codes say a physician should not participate in a legally authorized execution.

And then there is the law.

In the late 1990s, when the state overhauled its death penalty laws, a provision was added that said no doctor should take part in any execution.