A grow­ing num­ber of med­ical and legal experts are warn­ing that the chem­i­cal pan­curo­ni­um bro­mide, a com­mon­ly used lethal injec­tion drug, could leave a wide-awake inmate unable to speak or cry out as he slow­ly suf­fo­cates. Advances in med­i­cine have found that the drug, used by exe­cu­tion­ers to par­a­lyze the skele­tal mus­cles while not affect­ing the body’s brain or nerves, can mask severe suf­fer­ing. While the American Veterinary Medical Association con­demns the use of pan­curo­ni­um bro­mide in the euthana­sia process because ​“the ani­mal may per­ceive pain and dis­tress after it is immo­bi­lized,” the major­i­ty of states that main­tain the death penal­ty con­tin­ue to incor­po­rate it as the sec­ond of three drugs used to exe­cute those on death row. When ques­tioned about what death row inmates would feel if the first short-term anes­the­sia drug did not func­tion prop­er­ly and the remain­ing two drugs, includ­ing pan­curo­ni­um bro­mide, were admin­is­tered, Dr. Mark J.S. Heath of Columbia University stat­ed, ​“It would basi­cal­ly deliv­er the max­i­mum amount of pain the veins can deliv­er, which is a lot.” (New York Times, October 7, 2003). See Methods of Execution and Botched Executions.

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