Oklahoma recent­ly filed a peti­tion with a fed­er­al court ask­ing that pen­to­bar­bi­tal, an anes­thet­ic agent used in euthana­sia of ani­mals, be allowed as a sub­sti­tute for sodi­um thiopen­tal in lethal injec­tion pro­ce­dures. Earlier this year, Hospira Inc., the nation’s sole man­u­fac­tur­er of the lat­ter drug, announced that it has ceased pro­duc­tion because of a short­age in one of the ingre­di­ents. The short­age has forced Oklahoma and oth­er states to delay exe­cu­tions and seek oth­er sources for the drug. Attorneys for John David Duty, who is sched­uled for exe­cu­tion in Oklahoma in December, raised ques­tions about the new drug, assert­ing that at this point the drug ​“is untest­ed, poten­tial­ly dan­ger­ous, and could well result in a tor­tur­ous exe­cu­tion.” Efforts to obtain sodi­um thiopen­tal from oth­er sources have ini­ti­at­ed legal bat­tles around the coun­try. Some experts believe that inmates are at a greater risk of suf­fer­ing severe pain dur­ing exe­cu­tions if states use import­ed or unproven drugs. A for­eign sup­ply of thiopen­tal could be less pow­er­ful than the domes­tic vari­ety. Defense lawyers also con­tend prison offi­cials might not use prop­er care in trans­port­ing the drug, poten­tial­ly expos­ing it, for exam­ple, to tem­per­a­ture extremes that could hurt its effec­tive­ness. Oklahoma City fed­er­al judge Stephen Friot is expect­ed to hear argu­ments next week. If approved, pen­to­bar­bi­tal could be a new stan­dard for lethal injec­tions around the coun­try. Dr. A. Jay Chapman, the for­mer med­ical exam­in­er of Oklahoma who rec­om­mend­ed thiopen­tal in the 1970s as a suit­able drug for lethal injec­tions recent­ly expressed a lack of con­cern about whether the drug worked as orig­i­nal­ly claimed: ​“If they (inmates being exe­cut­ed) have a bit of pain exit­ing this world, it is of no great con­cern to me.”

(N. Koppel, ​“Plea for Execution Drug,” The Wall Street Journal, November 9, 2010). See Lethal Injection.

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