Ohio To Switch To One Drug For Executions

By Jeralyn, Section Death Penalty
Posted on Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 07:00:51 PM EST
Tags: executions, lethal injection (all tags)

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Ohio announced today it will switch from the three drug cocktail for lethal injections to administering a single drug, thiopental sodium.

Thiopental sodium, an anesthetic, is used to euthanize animals. "Ohio will be the first state in the U.S. to use the one-drug procedure," which was recommended by Dr. Mark Dershwitz, a professor of anesthesiology at the U. Mass Medical Center. In 205, Dr. Dershwitz recommended a single dose of pentobarbital. The problem, he said, was that it could take up to a half-hour for the heart to stop. [More...]

Ohio will have a backup plan:

The backup method involves an injection with a needle into a large muscle such as the arm or upper thigh. It was described as "much like a flu shot." One of the drugs to be used is Dilaudid, a commonly used painkiller.

The new procedure will be ready for implementation on November 30.

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Ohio To Switch To One Drug For Executions | 3 comments (3 topical)

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was dr. dershwitz (5.00 / 3) (#1)
by cpinva on Sat Nov 14, 2009 at 02:22:58 AM EST

In 205, Dr. Dershwitz recommended a single dose of pentobarbital.

consulting for the romans or the vandals?

LWOP would eliminate all this uncertainty, but that would be rational.

: And you believe .... (none / 0) (#2)
by nyrias on Mon Nov 16, 2009 at 11:52:43 AM EST

humans are rational? Because?
There is a HUGE literature saying otherwise, last time I checked.

Virginia (none / 0) (#3)
by jbindc on Tue Nov 17, 2009 at 02:25:49 PM EST

is going to electrocute an inmate tonight.

Inmates have the choice in Virginia of lethal injection or electrocution. This guy chose electrocution.

RICHMOND, Va. -- A former Army counterintelligence worker from Maryland who was convicted of gunning down a northern Virginia couple to win the love of a former stripper is set to become the first inmate to die of electrocution since 2006.
Larry Bill Elliott, 60, is scheduled to be executed Tuesday for the January 2001 shooting deaths of 25-year-old Dana Thrall and 30-year-old Robert Finch.
Elliott's execution comes one week after Virginia executed sniper mastermind John Allen Muhammad by injection. Elliott made the rare choice of electrocution, an option taken by only four of the 80 inmates executed since they were given a choice in 1995.
Prosecutors said Elliott killed the couple to win the love of Rebecca Gragg, a former stripper and adult escort who was involved in a bitter child custody battle with Finch.
Elliott, of Hanover, Md., claims he is innocent. He was set to be executed on Oct. 5, but Gov. Timothy M. Kaine pushed it back, saying he needed more time to consider the case.
"Given the nature of these crimes and the facts that were presented at trial, I have no reason to question the prosecutor's decision to seek the death penalty or the jury's decision that death was an appropriate sentence," Kaine said at the time, adding that the complicated nature of the case required extra care "given the irreversible nature of an execution."