HOUSTON -- Secrecy surrounding executions could hinder efforts by a group of medical professionals who are asking the nation’s death penalty states...
HOUSTON -- Secrecy surrounding executions could hinder efforts by a group of medical professionals who are asking the nation’s death penalty states for medications used in lethal injections so that they can go to coronavirus patients who are on ventilators, according to a death penalty expert and a doctor who's behind the request.
But it's unclear what drugs the states may have, as they have tended to release information about execution protocols and drug supplies only through open records requests or lawsuits. Only one state, Wyoming, responded directly to the letter, and it indicated it doesn’t have the drugs in question. Many medications used to sedate and immobilize people put on ventilators and to treat their pain are the same drugs that states use to put inmates to death. Demand for such drugs surged 73 percent in March.While some states contacted by The Associated Press, including Alabama and Florida, didn’t respond to inquiries about the letter, others, including Arkansas, Texas and Utah, limited their comment to mainly saying they don’t have the medications in question.
Drugs being requested include the sedative midazolam, the paralytic vecuronium bromide and the opioid fentanyl. They're needed because putting a patient on a ventilator “with no drugs ... would be torture,” said Zivot, an associate professor of anesthesiology and surgery at Emory University in Atlanta who has studied medicine’s role in capital punishment.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Microsoft's 'Plasma Bot' to help check if a person's plasma can fight coronavirusThe CoVIg-19 Plasma Alliance's recruitment of recovered COVID-19 patients will start in the US before expanding to Europe. coronavirus
Read more »
Study says CV could face shortage in hospital beds if COVID-19 peaksCEBU CITY, Philippines–A study from the University of the Philippines (UP) COVID-19 Pandemic Response Team titled Estimating Local Healthcare Capacity to Deal with COVID-19 Case Surge: Analysis
Read more »
Port terminal-turned-COVID-19 facility ready to accept patients with mild symptomsMANILA, Philippines – The Eva Macapagal Super Terminal in Pier 15, which was converted into a COVID-19 facility, is ready to accept patients with mild symptoms, the Department of Transportation
Read more »
Philippines coronavirus cases rise to 6,459, death toll hits 428BREAKING. The Department of Health (DOH) confirmed 200 new coronavirus cases in the country, raising the total number of cases to 6,459 as of 4 pm on Monday, April 20. COVID19PH
Read more »