As Oklahoma pre­pared to car­ry out its first exe­cu­tion on January 15 since the botched exe­cu­tion of Clayton Lockett in April 2014, anes­the­si­ol­o­gist Dr. Mark Heath of Columbia University Medical School expressed seri­ous con­cerns about the drugs it will use, par­tic­u­lar­ly one that par­a­lyzes the inmate: ​“Oklahoma and oth­er states … should aban­don the bar­bar­ic use of par­a­lyz­ing drugs entire­ly.” He explained that when the pris­on­er is giv­en par­a­lyt­ic drugs, he ​“will die of suf­fo­ca­tion whether they are uncon­scious or they are wide awake.” Dr. Heath also crit­i­cized the use of mida­zo­lam, which Oklahoma plans to use again, despite the prob­lems in mul­ti­ple states with that drug in 2014. He said it is par­tic­u­lar­ly ill-suit­ed as the first lethal injec­tion drug because it is a weak­er anes­thet­ic than bar­bi­tu­rates, such as pen­to­bar­bi­tal. In an op-ed, he con­clud­ed, ​“Oklahoma and oth­er states should not be exe­cut­ing pris­on­ers with mida­zo­lam; they should not pro­ceed in the absence of qual­i­fied med­ical prac­ti­tion­ers; they should only use FDA-approved drugs, and they should aban­don the bar­bar­ic, out­mod­ed and unnec­es­sary use of chem­i­cal paral­y­sis – .…The pub­lic and the courts could then return their atten­tion to the more impor­tant ques­tions and debate sur­round­ing the death penalty enterprise.”

Florida has also sched­uled an exe­cu­tion for January 15, using mida­zo­lam and a paralytic drug.

(M. Heath, ​“The US must end the use of par­a­lyt­ic drugs when exe­cut­ing pris­on­ers,” The Guardian, op-ed, January 14, 2015). See New Voices and Lethal Injection.

Citation Guide