Mike DeWine has put executions on hold due to concerns about pulmonary edema and a drug shortage. The Supreme Court has not yet ruled on whether the pain associated with pulmonary edema violates the Eighth Amendment. Lethal Injection. All medical witnesses to describe pulmonary edema agreed it was painful, both physically and emotionally, inducing a sense of drowning and the attendant panic and terror, much as would occur with the torture tactic known as waterboarding.
Tags: Lethal Injection. Related Resources. In recent decades, several countries have moved to using lethal injection as it is perceived to be more humane. The extent to which lethal injection is used in these six countries varies enormously, some use it often and exclusively, others favour different methods of execution and some rarely execute anyone.
The US was the first to use lethal injections and each new execution receives considerably more scrutiny and press attention than executions in other countries. All 31 states that still have the death penalty use lethal injection as their primary method of execution. Lethal injection simply stops some fundamental process within the body by chemical means. Different drugs interact with the body in different ways and all drugs can be a poison in sufficiently high doses.
Some drugs used in lethal injection will stop the heart. Other drugs depress breathing, so the individual suffocates. These drugs would be effective if used in isolation but the death would be horrific. Therefore, most states in the US that still have the death penalty tend to favour using a sequence of drugs: one that sedates the individual, a second that paralyses the muscles before a final drug is administered that will result in death.
Massive doses of barbiturate drugs were used for many executions in the US until drug companies stopped supplying them for this purpose. Barbiturates are sedatives and death occurs because breathing stops. Sedatives are still used in executions but usually as the first of the three injections in the execution process. The choice of sedative has caused some controversy, as the level of sedation achieved by some drugs might not be very deep and can be quite short acting.
The worry is that some individuals remain sufficiently aware during the later stages of execution. The second injection of muscle relaxants is also a controversial choice as it can mask signs of distress, such as twitching or convulsions, that may be displayed if the prisoner is not properly sedated.
When given in large doses they will also paralyse the muscles used to control breathing and the prisoner may begin to suffocate before the third injection takes effect. The third drug normally used is potassium chloride. Potassium is a vital part of normal heart function; it is involved in nerve signals that control the heart rhythm as well as the contraction of cells that result in the heartbeat.
High doses of potassium result in cardiac arrest. Potassium injections are notoriously painful. Colorado includes pentobarbital as a backup drug in its lethal-injection procedure. Oklahoma used midazolam in the botched execution of Clayton Lockett in April , and Lockett died after the procedure was halted.
In January , Florida abandoned its use of midazolam as the first drug in its three-drug protocol and replaced it with etomidate. Two states have used midazolam in a two-drug protocol consisting of midazolam and hydromorphone: Ohio Dennis McGuire and Arizona Joseph Wood. After its botched execution of McGuire, Ohio abandoned its use of midazolam in a two-drug protocol, but then in October decided to keep midazolam in a three-drug protocol.
In December , Arizona abandoned its use of midazolam in either a two-drug or a three-drug protocol. Three states have, at some point, proposed using midazolam in a two-drug protocol Louisiana, Kentucky, and Oklahoma but none of those states has followed through with that formula. Some states have proposed multiple protocols.
Missouri administered midazolam to inmates as a sedative before the official execution protocol began. Nevada has also announced that it will use fentanyl in combination with other drugs to carry out executions. South Dakota carried out 2 executions in October , obtaining drugs from compounders.
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