Search results for: lethal injection

The federal government has announced it will begin executions again this year using a single drug, pentobarbital, as its lethal injection method.  The source of that pentobarbital is not known, but many assume it will come from a supplier being used by many other states for their lethal injection protocols:  the “compounding pharmacy.”  For details, read “Why the Justice Department’s Plan to Use a Single Drug for Lethal Injections Is Controversial,” written by Joshua Bates and published by TIME on July 29, 2019.

Lethal Injection Methods: The Drugs Are an Issue

Different states choose different formulas for their lethal injection executions.  The Death Penalty Information Project has a nice chart that provides details.

For many, the focus here has been on the drugs themselves and how horrific their use can be — alone, or in tandem with other drugs in the execution “cocktail.”  And that’s a valid concern.

Lethal Injection Methods: The Source of the Drugs Is A Separate Concern

Here’s another one:  the supplier of these lethal injection drugs is not regulated as are the big drug companies.  Compounding pharmacies are becoming more and more popular in this country as a source of the deadly drugs needed for official killings.  Safety guidelines may or may not be followed by compounding pharmacies with horrific consequences.

To learn more about the problem of compounding pharmacies — both for government executions and generally as a source for health care services, as well — watch the informative and terrifying video from HBO – Last Week Tonight’s John Oliver on YouTube (click on the image to view):

 

 

 

States may overwhelmingly choose the lethal injection method of execution these days, but that doesn’t mean that the same procedure is followed or the same drugs are used. Consider and compare the drugs, and drug combinations, used in executions as compiled by the Death Penalty Information Center in its State by State Lethal Injection Protocols Table.  (Note the Florida protocol has been updated since this table was created.)

2019 Florida Execution Protocol: 3 Drugs in Lethal Injection Cocktail

As of February 2019, the State of Florida execution protocol involves the following (go here to read the full Lethal Injection Protocol submitted to the Governor of Florida by the Florida Department of Corrections) insofar as the preparation of the fatal drugs:

Four Syringes are Prepared with Three Drugs and Saline Solution

(f) A designated execution team member, in the presence of one or more additional team members and an independent observer from FDLE, will prepare the lethal injection chemicals as follows, ensuring that each syringe used in the lethal injection process is appropriately labeled, including the name of the chemical contained therein:

(1) Etomidate injection: A sterile, disposable sixty cubic centimeter (60cc) syringe and needle will be used to draw fifty milliliters (50mls) of etomidate injection 2mg/ml from one or more vials containing same, for a total of one hundred milligrams (100mg) of etomidate injection. The syringe will then be fitted with an eighteen (18) gauge, one (1) inch, blunt cannula (tube), clearly labeled with the number one (1), and placed in the first slot on a stand designed to hold eight (8) such syringes in separate slots. The stand will be clearly labeled with the letter “A.” This process will be repeated with a second syringe, which will be clearly labeled with a number two (2) and placed in the second slot on stand “A.”

Two additional syringes will be drawn in the same manner, fitted with the blunt cannula, and clearly labeled with the numbers one ( 1) and two (2), respectively. These two syringes will be placed in the first two slots on a second stand that has been clearly labeled with the letter “B.” All materials used to prepare these syringes will be removed from the work area and discarded pursuant to state and federal law.

(2) Rocuronium bromide injection: A sterile, disposable sixty cubic centimeter (60cc) syringe wi11 be used to draw five hundred milligrams (500mg) of rocuronium bromide injection from one or more vials containing same. The syringe will then be fitted with an eighteen (18) gauge, one (I) inch, blunt cannula (tube). This procedure will be repeated until there are four (4) syringes, each containing five hundred milligrams (500mg) of rocuronium bromide injection, for a total oftwo thousand milligrams (2000mg). Two syringes will be clearly labeled with the numbers four (4) and five (5), respectively, and placed into slots four (4) and five (5) on stand “A.” This procedure will be repeated with the other two syringes, each of which will be fitted with a blunt cannula, labeled appropriately and placed in slots four (4) and five (5), respectively, on stand “B.” All materials used to prepare these syringes wi11 be removed from the work area and discarded pursuant to state and federal law.

(3) Potassium acetate injection: A sterile, disposable sixty cubic centimeter (60cc) syringe will be used to draw one hundred twenty milliequivalents (120mEq) of potassium acetate injection from one or more vials containing same. The syringe will then be fitted with an eighteen (18) gauge, one (1) inch blunt cannula (tube). This procedure will be repeated until there are four (4) syringes, each containing one hundred twenty milliequivalents (120mEq) of potassium acetate injection, for a total of four hundred eighty ( 480) milliequivalents. Two syringes will be clearly labeled with the numbers seven (7) and eight (8), respectively, and placed into slots seven (7) and eight (8) on stand “A.” This procedure will be repeated with the other two syringes, each of which will be fitted with a blunt cannula, labeled appropriately, and placed in slots seven (7) and eight (8), respectively, on stand “B.” All materials used to prepare these syringes will be removed from the work area and discarded pursuant to state and federal law.

(4) Saline solution: A sterile, disposable twenty cubic centimeter (20cc) syringe will be used to draw twenty milliliters (20ml) of sterile saline solution from one or more vials containing same. This procedure will be repeated until there are four (4) syringes, each containing twenty milliliters (20ml) of sterile saline solution, for a total of eighty (80) milliliters. Each syringe will then be fitted with an
eighteen (18) gauge, one (1) inch, blunt cannula (tube). Two syringes will be clearly labeled with the numbers three (3) and six (6), respectively, and placed into slots three (3) and six (6) on stand “A.” This procedure will be repeated with the other two syringes, each of which will be p1aced in slots three (3) and six (6), respectively, on stand “B.” All materials used to prepare these syringes
will be removed from the work area and discarded pursuant to state and federal law.

Syringes Transported to Executioner’s Room

(g) The execution team member who has prepared the lethal chemicals will transport them personally, in the presence of one or more additional members of  the execution team, to the executioner’s room. Stand “A” will be placed on the worktop for use by the primary executioner, to be used during the execution by lethal injection. Stand “B” will be placed on a shelf underneath the worktop within easy reach of the executioners should they be needed during the execution. Stand “B” will not be used unless expressly ordered to be used by the team warden. The lethal chemicals will remain secure until the executioners arrive. No one other than the executioners will have access to the lethal chemicals, unless a stay is granted, in which case the execution team member who
prepared the lethal chemicals will retrieve them from the locked room and dispose of them according to state and federal law.

There may be some who are offended a bit by John Oliver’s discourse in this video (it’s HBO, after all), but his discussion of the current lethal injection method of execution in this country is so important that hopefully, those folk will still watch through to the very end.

He’s right on point about this: injecting humans with these drugs in order to kill them is not the peaceful send-off that much of the general public assumes it to be.  Particularly important in view of the active execution schedule right now in this country (for details, check out the Upcoming Execution Schedule maintained by the Death Penalty Information Center).

Click on the image to watch on YouTube:

 

The State of Nevada has scheduled the execution of Scott Dozier for July 11, 2018.  The execution method will be lethal injection.  It is the state’s first execution in 12 years.

On Tuesday, the Nevada Department of Corrections announced that the Dozier Execution will involve the use of the following three drugs:

There are many reasons to be concerned about this particular execution cocktail.  Among them:

  1.  Cisatracuriam was enough of a concern that Nevada’s Eighth Judicial District Court blocked Mr. Dozier’s execution last fall because of this drug.  (Read the Nevada Supreme Court’s overturning of that decision in its May 2018 Order, which allows the execution to proceed.)
  2.  Midazolam has been approved for use in executions by the Supreme Court of the United States (see Glossip v. Gross).  However, that does not mean it is not worrisome:  it took two hours for Joseph Wood to die during his execution by the State of Arizona.  (Read the eyewitness account by reporter Michael Kiefer here.) Arizona refuses to use midazolam in any future executions.
  3. Fentanyl has never been used in an execution.

For more, read “Nevada execution plan sedative blamed for troubles elsewhere,” written by Ken Ritter for the Associated Press and published in the Miami Herald on July 5, 2018.

Our past discussions regarding lethal injection drugs include:

 The thing about lethal injection is that it’s an execution method usually built around a combination of drugs.  And those drugs might not be the same.

Indiana 3-Drug Combo Voided by Indiana Court

For example, in Indiana the drug combination protocol established by the Indiana Department of Corrections was: (1) methoexital; (2) pancuronium bromide; and (3) potassium chloride.  The Indiana Court of Appeals nixed the use of this drug cocktail this month.  

For details, read their decision in Ward v. Carter, and the discussion at DeathPenaltyInfo.org. 

SCOTUS Dissent By Sotomayor Questions Use of Midazolam

This month, Justice Sotomayor voiced her concerns over using midazolam in a lethal injection in her dissenting opinion in Arthur v. Dunn, writing:

"I continue to doubt whether midazolam is capable of rendering prisoners insensate to the excruciating pain of lethal injection and thus whether midazolam may be constitutionally used in lethal injection protocols."

Read the full dissent here. 

So, is this a hint that midazolam’s days are numbered as a method of execution?  And if it’s ruled out, then will states simply find another drug to use in its stead?

For more on this issue, check out:

News reports are the State of Florida is getting ready to execute more folk, even though SCOTUS and the Supreme Court of Florida pretty much have Florida executions on hold right now indefinitely. 

Florida Lethal Injections Executions With Etomidate

The Sun Sentinel and others are reporting that the Florida Department of Corrections paid money to get its drug supply ready for upcoming lethal injections. 

This apparently includes the purchase of a new drug, one that has never been used before in an execution. 

It’s called ETOMIDATE.  Read about the drug here.  It replaces midazolam in the three-drug cocktail.

Follow the details on this story, including the News Service of Florida getting the scoop by obtaining the records, in the article written by Dara Cam and published on December 5, 2016, in the Sun Sentinel, entitled "Death penalty: Florida may be pondering ‘novel’ lethal injection change."

Here’s the question:  are controversies surrounding the drug or drugs used in lethal injection executions enough to halt capital punishment altogether?  Even though there are other, legal methods of execution on the books? 

Consider the following three examples of executions not going forward because of drug issues:

1.  Missouri Execution Halted Over Pentobarbital Issue In Man With Brain Tumor

Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court ordered the execution of Ernest Lee Johnson by the State of Missouri be stayed while legal issues are resolved in his case.  The stay was none too soon:  Johnson was scheduled to die yesterday. 

The first issue:  if the lethal injection method will be cruel and unusual in his case because of the pentobarbital used by Missouri (source unknown) might interact with his brain tumor and cause painful seizures.  The second issue:  whether or not this man should be executed because he suffers from mental disabilities.  (His IQ has been tested at 63.)

2.  Ohio Delays Executions Until 2017

Ohio can’t find drugs to use in its lethal injection executions.  So all the inmates on Ohio’s Death Row have received a stay of sorts:  now, Ohio’s execution schedule begins in January 2017 and continues through August 2019.  There are 25 executions scheduled during this time period.

From its Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (go here for full release including revised schedule with individual dates and names):

Today the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (DRC) announced revised execution dates for twelve inmates.    DRC continues to seek all legal means to obtain the drugs necessary to carry out court ordered executions, but over the past few years it has become exceedingly difficult to secure those drugs because of severe supply and distribution restrictions.  The new dates are designed to provide DRC additional time necessary to secure the required execution drugs.
 

3.  Oklahoma Delays Executions At Request of Attorney General

We all know that Oklahoma has had some serious problems with the lethal injection method of execution.  After all, Glossip v. Gross comes out of Oklahoma — where Richard Glossip, Benjamin Cole, and John Grant, challenged the use of midazolam in the three-drug lethal injection cocktail, arguing that three executions showed that the drug failed to stop pain.  SCOTUS ruled against them back in June.

It was also Oklahoma where Richard Glossip just had his execution stayed at the last minute by the Governor.

Why?  Apparently, they were about to use the wrong drug in the execution, potassium acetate.  The correct and approved drug for lethal injection in Oklahoma is potassium chloride, NOT potassium acetate.    

Even more disturbing:  Oklahoma officials are now acknowledging that the wrong drug, potassium acetate, was used in the January 2015 execution of Charles Warner.

This is the same state that botched the execution of Clayton Lockett, remember.

Now, Oklahoma executioners face a revised execution schedule that delays any executions.  The Attorney General for the State of Oklahoma has asked that all executions be stayed there until they can get this drug problem resolved.
 

This week, the Supreme Court of the United States issued its ruling in Glossip v. Gross .  Many  thought that the possibilities ranged from (1) outlawing the use of the single drug midazolam; (2) outlawing the lethal injection method of execution in all forms; or (3) reconsidering capital punishment entirely. 

 

Few were ready for what resulted here:  Oklahoma won on all points. 

Glossip: Oklahoma Can use Midazolam

Not only is the death penalty alive and well in this country today, so is lethal injection as a form of execution and the use of midazolam in a lethal injection as was used by the State of Oklahoma in the horrific execution of Clayton Lockett last year.

Wow.

Read the opinion and all its dissents here.

Read the past coverage we’ve had here on the blog regarding lethal injections here (list of our 101 posts and counting).

Terry Lenamon: "It’s a Wake Up Call."

And for Terence Lenamon’s take on things, check out his interview here in "Supreme Court Kills Anti-death Penalty Argument – or Does It?" by Zosha Millman on the LexBlog network’s online publication. 

Executions need executioners. One of the challenges to the lethal injection method of execution in the United States involves the drugs used in the process, and we post about those controversies (and the arguments being made in various courts) regularly.

However, another serious concern regarding injecting drugs into a human being in order to carry out a sentence of death involves who acts as executioner.

Doctors and Pharmacists

Doctors take an oath dedicating themselves to saving lives, not ending them. Physicians are vocal about their opposition to participating in executions involving lethal injections.

Which means it has been difficult finding people to do the job, and in some executions pharmacists have been the solution to the problem of finding an execution to inject the drug cocktail (or the single drug) used for capital punishment in that state.

Recently, the national organization that represents pharmacists came out officially against participating in executions involving lethal injections.

It doesn’t stop an individual pharmacist from participating, but it sure does discourage it. 

Their press release:

APhA House of Delegates Adopts Policy Discouraging Pharmacist Participation in Execution
 

March 30, 2015

"The American Pharmacists Association discourages pharmacist participation in executions on the basis that such activities are fundamentally contrary to the role of pharmacists as providers of health care.”

WASHINGTON, DC – The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) House of Delegates today voted to adopt a policy discouraging pharmacist participation in executions. The House of  Delegates met as part of the 2015 APhA Annual Meeting & Exposition, APhA2015, in San Diego.

The policy states: “The American Pharmacists Association discourages pharmacist participation in executions on the basis that such activities are fundamentally contrary to the role of pharmacists as providers of health care.”

APhA Executive Vice President and CEO, Thomas E. Menighan, BSPharm, MBA, ScD (Hon), FAPhA, stated, “Pharmacists are health care providers and pharmacist participation in executions conflicts with the profession’s role on the patient health care team. This new policy aligns APhA with the execution policies of other major health care associations including the American Medical Association, the American Nurses Association and the American Board of Anesthesiology.
 

This new policy statement joins two policies previously adopted by the APhA House of Delegates:

Pharmacist Involvement in Execution by Lethal Injection (2004, 1985)

1. APhA opposes the use of the term "drug" for chemicals when used in lethal injections.
2. APhA opposes laws and regulations which mandate or prohibit the participation of pharmacists in the process of execution by lethal injection.

Two quick things as we await the Supreme Court decision in Glossop:
1.  Read this Article
Last week, law professor Paul Litton shared an article with Terry Lenamon that he has coauthored with Harvard professor David B.Waisel.  It  discusses last week’s SCOTUS arguments and the overall issue of whether or not the current lethal injection method of execution is unconstitutional.

It’s a good read.

2. Watch this Video

Another good exploration of the issue — this video from the Death Penalty Information Center:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39G5MvgJ5lE