LETHAL INJECTIONS: Ohio and Other States Face New Hurdles with Their Execution Process

Ohio is the only state cur­rent­ly using a sin­gle dose of the drug pen­to­bar­bi­tal to exe­cute inmates, while oth­er states are using pen­to­bar­bi­tal as part of a three-drug pro­to­col. According to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (DRC), the state’s sup­ply of the drug will last only until February. 

Lundbeck, Inc., the man­u­fac­tur­er of pen­to­bar­bi­tal, has said they are putting sys­tems in place to block the use of their prod­uct in exe­cu­tions. Ohio recent­ly announced changes to its exe­cu­tion pro­to­col that would allow it to use a back­up method of exe­cu­tion if the state can­not obtain pen­to­bar­bi­tal. However, the new method has nev­er been used, and involves inject­ing two drugs direct­ly into an inmate’s mus­cles, bypass­ing the veins. 

Under that method, the seda­tive mida­zo­lam would be fol­lowed by the painkiller hydro­mor­phone. There is a pos­si­bil­i­ty of vom­it­ing and con­vul­sions with this protocol. 

As with pre­vi­ous changes to exe­cu­tion pro­ce­dures, the new method could be chal­lenged in court. Tim Young, a State Public Defender, described the new method as, ​“Untested, any­where, ever.” Because of its lim­it­ed shelf-life and restric­tions by the man­u­fac­tur­er, oth­er states are likey to run out of pen­to­bar­bi­tal by 2013. States might turn to the seda­tive propo­fol, but it is also fac­ing short­ages, accord­ing to the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.

The Ohio Supreme Court recent­ly set two new exe­cu­tion dates, bring­ing the total num­ber of sched­uled exe­cu­tions to 12 over the next two years. But two exe­cu­tions pre­vi­ous­ly sched­uled in Ohio were stayed due to legal chal­lenges to the lethal injec­tion pro­ce­dures. U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Frost will decide in September whether to stay the September 20 exe­cu­tion of Billy Slagle on the same grounds.