Is This Death Row For Certain Lethal Injection Drugs?
Three inmates wrote to the Supreme Court to say that the state protocol of lethal injections violates the Constitution’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment and could open a new chapter in the ongoing battle over the jumbled system on execution procedures in the United States.
What is lethal injection?
It is the practice of killing a person using a lethal dose of drugs, which are administered intravenously (through or within a vein). There are two methods of lethal injection that exist today, one using a three-drug protocol and another using one large dose of a barbiturate.
Each state which allows the use of lethal injection as a form of death, most commonly used in prisons, is required to have detailed protocols for its practice, though the rules differ from state to state.
How does the lethal injection occur?
There is little variance in the process for executing a condemned inmate. It begins with the lethal injection team securing the inmate to a gurney and connecting him to an electrocardiogram (EKG) machine, which monitors the activity of the heart. There are then two intravenous lines (one as a backup) inserted into the vein of the convict’s arm. These lines head out into a separate room called the infusion room where members of the intravenous team monitor the initial harmless saline drip.
The execution chamber is exposed to witnesses in an adjoining room. In states that use the three-drug protocol, at the warden’s signal, the inmate is injected with sodium thiopental or pentobarbital, anesthetics intended to put the inmate to sleep. When a member of the intravenous team determines the inmate is unconscious, he is then injected with pancuronium bromide which paralyzes the entire muscle system and stops the inmates breathing. Finally potassium chloride is injected and stops his heart.
The Supreme Court has not accepted a challenge to the drugs that have been used for lethal injection since 2008. In a case called Baze vs. Rees the court found Kentucky’s lethal injection protocol constitutional. Since then they have struggled to locate lethal injection drugs. Many states have changed protocols and have experimented with different drugs.
Six years ago the justices ruled that even if there was a risk of some pain from the procedure it would not violate the constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment.
Why is it still an issue if the court has already ruled on lethal injections?
The manufacturer of sodium thiopental in the U.S. stopped making the drug and the European Union banned the export of the drug to stop it from being used in lethal injection executions. Which meant that the states had to scramble for a substitute. Oklahoma found that the substitute which worked best for them in place of the sodium thiopental was midazolam.
What is wrong with midazolam?
Nothing is wrong with it. At least that is what Correction officials say. But there are some challengers that are saying it is not appropriate for executions because it is not a surgical-grade anesthetic and won’t put inmates into a coma-like state before the other drugs are administered, which can cause more discomfort. They say that this can cause prisoners to feel like they are being suffocated and experience severe pain.
Have there been problems with executions while using midazolam?
This question is hotly debated in the prison system. A January 2014 execution in Ohio took approximately about 25 minutes and during the process witnesses said that they could see him gasping. Then again in July, another man stayed alive, gasping for two hours. State officials insist that both of these executions were humane.
In one particular case in April in Oklahoma, a man regained consciousness in the middle of the execution and writhed in pain. The execution was called off but not in time to revive him. There was a state review of the execution and found that a misplaced IV was the cause of the botch not the midazolam. Death row lawyers explained that even if the sedative were properly administered the prisoner still would have been exposed to pain and suffering.
What will happen until the Supreme Court issues a ruling?
The three inmates who are on death row will ask for stays of execution and it is likely that they will get them. A stay of execution is a court order to temporarily suspend the execution of a court judgment or other court order.
What do you think about the death penalty? Should we get rid of it all together or just find the correct type of anesthetics to do the job without giving inmates pain?
Let us know in the comments below.
