"Kasich postpones execution of inmate who wants to donate organs," is by Alan Johnson for the Columbus Dispatch.
Convicted child-killer Ronald Phillips was in the Death House and had ordered his last meal when he got the word yesterday: Gov. John Kasich had postponed his execution set for today to determine whether his “nonvital” organs could be harvested as he requested.
His execution now is scheduled for July 2.
“His first words were, ‘God is good.’ He feels immense gratitude to the governor,” said Tim Sweeney, the condemned man’s Cleveland attorney.
Kasich’s action is unprecedented in the nation in the case of an imminent execution, a death-penalty expert said.
The Republican governor said he halted Phillips’ execution “so that medical experts can assess whether Phillips’ nonvital organs or tissues can be donated to his mother or possibly others.”
“Ronald Phillips committed a heinous crime for which he will face the death penalty,” Kasich said in a statement less than 18 hours before the condemned man was to be lethally injected using two drugs never before used in combination. “I realize this is a bit of uncharted territory for Ohio, but if another life can be saved by his willingness to donate his organs and tissues, then we should allow for that to happen.”
The governor said if Phillips “is found to be a viable donor to his mother or possibly others awaiting transplants of nonvital organs, such as kidneys, the procedures would be performed and then he would be returned to Death Row to await his new execution date.”
AP coverage is, "Ohio governor delays execution, says inmate request to donate organs is ‘uncharted territory’," by Julie Carr Smyth. It's via the Washington Post, and is also available from the Christian Science Monitor.
Ohio’s governor delayed the execution of a condemned child killer to consider the inmate’s unprecedented organ donation request, acknowledging that it’s “uncharted territory” but expressing hope that the man might help save a life before losing his own.
Ronald Phillips, 40, was scheduled to be put to death Thursday with a lethal injection of a two-drug combination not yet tried in the U.S., but Gov. John Kasich issued a stay of execution Wednesday. The execution date has been rescheduled for July 2.
“I realize this is a bit of uncharted territory for Ohio, but if another life can be saved by his willingness to donate his organs and tissues then we should allow for that to happen,” Kasich said in a statement. He said he wanted to allow time for medical experts to study whether Phillips could donate non-vital organs, such as a kidney, before being executed.
And:
Ohio’s prison medical policy accommodates organ donations, but prison officials rejected the request, saying it came too late to work out logistics and security concerns.
Kasich said Phillips’ crime was heinous but his willingness to donate organs and tissue could save another life and the state should try to accommodate that.
Some 3,500 people in Ohio and more than 120,000 nationally are awaiting organ donations, said Marilyn Pongonis, a spokeswoman for the Lifeline of Ohio organ donation program.
If Phillips is a viable donor for his mother, who has kidney disease and is on dialysis, or for others awaiting live transplants of non-vital organs, the stay would allow time for those procedures to be performed, Kasich said.
Earlier coverage from Ohio begins at the link.
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