A doctor who was barred from taking part in executions in Missouri because of concerns his dyslexia would interfere with his ability to administer lethal injections is helping the federal government carry out death sentences in Indiana, according to court documents.
The physician has been the target of more than 20 malpractice suits, was barred from practicing at two hospitals and was publicly reprimanded by a state agency for failing to disclose those suits to a hospital where he treated patients, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The newspaper identified the doctor as Alan R. Doerhoff of Jefferson City, Mo.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday, November 16, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 49 words Type of Material: Correction
Lethal injection: An article in Thursday's Section A about a doctor who assists in executions overseen by the federal government gave the wrong first name of the associate director of the death penalty clinic at UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law. His name is Ty Alper, not Tyler.
Last year, U.S. District Judge Fernando J. Gaitan Jr. of Kansas City, Mo., banned Doerhoff from participating "in any manner, at any level" in lethal injections in Missouri.
The judge said earlier he was "gravely concerned" that the doctor responsible for "mixing the drugs which will be responsible for humanely ending the life of condemned inmates, has a condition [dyslexia] which causes him confusion with regard to numbers."
Federal officials, however, have made Doerhoff part of the execution team at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., according to court papers filed on behalf of several inmates there. All condemned federal prisoners are executed at that prison.
Among those executed there was Oklahoma City bomber Timothy J. McVeigh.
Doerhoff's role is to place intravenous lines in condemned inmates, monitor their levels of consciousness and sign death certificates, according to the papers.
Doerhoff did not respond to requests for comment, and Justice Department spokesman Erik Ablin declined to comment.
Traci Billingsley, U.S. Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman, said the agency does not comment on pending litigation and does not make public the names of staff involved in lethal injections.
Washington attorney Paul F. Enzinna, one of the Indiana inmates' lawyers, also declined to comment.
Doerhoff's role in federal executions emerged in one of several challenges to lethal injection filed in courts around the country.
Thirty-seven states and the federal government use a three-drug cocktail to execute prisoners: the fast-acting sedative thiopental, a paralyzing drug and a heart-stopping drug.
Although ostensibly more humane than prior execution methods, lethal injection is often performed by untrained, unqualified prison employees using inadequate equipment, creating an unnecessary risk of excessive pain in violation of the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment, the suits allege.
