One that made me go "whoaaa."

Every now and again, when reading up on the death penalty news around the country, I stumble across a story that makes me sit up and go "whoa."

Here's a perfect example:

Dyslexic doctor stays secret: Testimony persuaded judge to halt Missouri executions

Officials said Tuesday that they would not disclose the name of the dyslexic surgeon in charge of Missouri's lethal injections, whose testimony that he sometimes confuses figures helped persuade a federal judge to halt the state's executions.

Officials want to protect the surgeon, called John Doe I in court documents, from "harassment of various sorts," said Brian Hauswirth, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections. He said he would not elaborate.

In October, a U.S. magistrate judge ordered the surgeon's identity concealed to protect the state's security interests and the doctor's privacy. Death penalty critics said the state had little justification to keep a lid on the surgeon's identity. "It's shameful that you would put someone who suffers from dyslexia in charge of administering chemicals that kill someone," said Gino F.Battisti, a lawyer from St. Louis who has represented death row inmates. "People have a right to know how the system works."

Kent Gipson, whose law firm Public Interest Law Center, based in Kansas City, has represented Missouri death row inmates, said he thought that the "state is worried that if this guy gets found out and gets his medical license jerked, they'll never find another doctor to help them execute people."

People...people, people, people. Can you say "Hippocratic Oath?" The one that includes the words "Do no harm."

Jeez.