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from FLORIDIANS FOR ALTERNATIVES TO THE DEATH PENALTY (FADP)
13 April 2005
CONTACT: Abe Bonowitz: 800-973-6548 / 561-371-5204
UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI RESEARCHERS FIND LETHAL INJECTION IS TORTURE
FADP raises concern about lethal injection process in light of
medical
journal report
April 13, 2005 – Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
(FADP)
today expressed concern over a medical journal report that suggests
that in
a significant number of cases, condemned prisoners are likely
conscious as
lethal drugs stop their heart and lungs from functioning, possibly
suffering excruciating pain and suffocation.
Today a prestigious British medical journal, The Lancet, published an
article authored by three University of Miami researchers and a
Virginia
death penalty lawyer - Leonidas G. Koniaris, Teresa A. Zimmers and
David A.
Lubarsky of the University of Miami School of Medicine and Virginia
attorney Jonathan P. Sheldon.. The article suggests that some
prisoners
may be awake and able to feel pain during the execution process,
despite
the administration of sodium thiopental, which is designed to render
a
person unconscious while two other drugs are given.
The authors studied toxicology reports from 49 executed inmates –
seven in
Arizona, eight in Georgia, 11 in North Carolina and 23 in South
Carolina. They found that 43 out of the 49 inmates had post-mortem
blood
thiopental levels below that required for surgery. And 21 inmates had
levels consistent with awareness. “Thus,” the authors concluded,
“lethal
injection anesthesia methodology is flawed and some inmates might
have
experienced awareness and suffering during execution.”
“Amnesty International long ago declared that death row itself is
torture,"
said Abe Bonowitz, director of Floridians for Alternatives to the
Death
Penalty. "Even before Timothy McVeigh shed a tear during his
execution we
have had suspicions that lethal injection is not as simple and
painless as
politicians would have us believe. This new report suggests that in
many
cases we are torturing prisoners to death by suffocation. We need an
immediate time-out on executions until this research can be more
fully
verified and the ramifications considered."
In most states, lethal injection executions consist of administration
of
three drugs. First, sodium thiopental is administered to render the
prisoner unconscious. Then, pancuronium bromide is administered to
cause
paralysis. Finally, potassium chloride is given to stop the heart,
thus
causing death. “Without anesthesia,” the authors write, “the
condemned
person would experience asphyxiation, a severe burning sensation,
massive
muscle cramping and finally cardiac arrest. Thus anesthesia is
necessary
both to mitigate the suffering of the condemned and to preserve
public
opinion that lethal injection is a near-painless death.”
************
And now the University of Miami release:
UM Researchers Question Lethal Injection as a Form of Capital
Punishment
4/13/2005
A letter written by researchers at the University of Miami Leonard M.
Miller School of Medicine and published in The Lancet raises serious
questions about lethal injection as a form of capital punishment. The
letter in the April 16th edition of the prestigious international
journal
describes compelling evidence of inadequate anesthesia during
executions.
Lethal injection generally consists of the sequential administration
of
sodium thiopental for anesthesia, pancuronium bromide to induce
paralysis,
and finally potassium chloride to stop the heart and cause death.
Without
anesthesia, the condemned person would experience suffocation and
excruciating pain without being able to move or communicate that
fact.
“Unlike in medical applications, anesthesia in execution has not been
subjected to clinical trials or government regulation, nor have the
practitioners received even basic training to do this,” says David A.
Lubarsky, M.D., M.B.A., professor and chairman of the UM Department
of
Anesthesiology and one of the letter’s authors. “This caused us to
wonder
whether anesthesia methodology in lethal injection might be
inadequate.”
The research team, which also included University of Miami faculty
Teresa
Zimmers, Ph.D., and Leonidas G. Koniaris, M.D., and Virginia attorney
Jonathan Sheldon who specializes in the legal defense of the
condemned,
used a combination of state records obtained under the Freedom of
Information Act, along with personal interviews and sworn testimony
of
corrections officials involved in executions in Virginia and Texas.
They also obtained autopsy toxicology results from 49 executions in
Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
“The practice of lethal injection for execution perverts the tools of
medicine and the trust the public has in drugs and clinical
protocols.
Although executioners use an anesthetic, the current dosages and
means of
administration do not assure that inmates are senseless to pain,
particularly because inmates are not monitored for level of
consciousness
or depth of anesthesia,” said Leonidas G. Koniaris, M.D., associate
professor of clinical surgery, cell biology and anatomy, and lead
author of
the letter.
“We found that 43 of 49 executed inmates had post-mortem blood
anesthesia
levels below that required for surgery, while 21 of those inmates had
levels that were consistent with awareness,” said Teresa Zimmers,
Ph.D.,
research assistant professor of surgery who analyzed the data for the
research.
“This study provides strong evidence that anesthesia methodology in
lethal
injection is flawed and that some inmates likely experienced
awareness and
profound suffering during execution,” said Jonathan Sheldon. “While
some
think that the condemned deserve to suffer, our society long ago
rejected
the unnecessary infliction of pain in execution because it is
contrary to
our 8th Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.”
The researchers point out that physicians are ethically prohibited
from
participating in an execution, so adequate anesthesia cannot be
assured by
physicians actively overseeing the process. For that reason, they
believe
that until better protocols are developed and tested and those
delivering
the executions are better trained to assure it is performed in a
humane and
competent fashion, execution by lethal injection should be stopped to
prevent unnecessary cruelty and suffering.
Media Contact: Jeanne Antol Krull
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SENT BY:
Abraham J. Bonowitz
Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP)
Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty works for
restorative
justice in the form of effective alternatives to the death penalty.
It
does so by
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