California execution delayed as doctors walk out

From CNN.com

The execution of a convicted killer was postponed early Tuesday after two anesthesiologists refused for ethical reasons to take part, renewing the long-running debate over what role doctors may play in the death chamber.

Michael Morales, 46, was supposed to die by lethal injection at 12:01 a.m. But the execution was put off until at least Tuesday night after the anesthesiologists objected that they might have to advise the executioner if the inmate woke up or appeared to suffer pain.

"Any such intervention would clearly be medically unethical," the doctors, whose identities were not released, said in a statement. "As a result, we have withdrawn from participation in this current process."