...In her 14-page ruling (click here) late Tuesday afternoon, U.S. District Court Judge Nanette Laughrey criticized the timing of the state's changes to its lethal-injection procedures, stating that "details of the execution protocol have been illusive at best."
The Missouri Department of Corrections had planned to be the first state to use propofol, a common anesthetic. But after the medical profession objected, Gov. Jay Nixon halted the execution of another inmate last month and directed the department to use another drug. Corrections officials settled on pentobarbital, made by a compounding pharmacy, but released few details, citing privacy laws protecting execution teams.
"Franklin has been afforded no time to research the risk of pain associated with the Department's new protocol, the quality of the pentobarbital provided, and the record of the source of the pentobarbital," she wrote....
Propofol/Diprivan is not an appropriate drug for executions. It is short acting, a hypnotic or amnestic agent and used as a sedative, but, it does not have the proper properties to insure a painless death. I realize it has made it's way into mainstream media, but, the deaths is causes is over time and more form asphyxiation than overdose. The deaths known to be caused by Diprivan are from over sedation and negligence of proper monitoring.
What is it with these short acting drugs the states are focusing on? Recently is was Versed along with another medication. That is cruel and unusual. I don't believe any of the short acting drugs used for procedures should even be considered.
The privacy issue is baloney. The state is afraid the guy will be cruelly put to death and that it will make it into the media so all of a sudden drug use is a privacy issue.
There is something wrong here.
