What Deadly Injectables Really Do
The drugs used in lethal injection were not intended to kill people, and they are on the market today for their medicinal uses. Pharmaceutical companies don’t allow them to be used for executions, but Arkansas got them anyway. Here’s what the three drugs in the state’s lethal injection cocktail actually do.
Lethal injections have become rare, in part because pharmaceutical companies are reluctant to assist in executions and have blocked the sale of their drugs to that end. But correctional officers in Arkansas managed to get their hands on three drugs that the court believes are suitable for the job. However, they need to hurry because one of them will expire at the end of this month. They planned eight executions and four were allowed to continue. The last of the four is scheduled for today.
Midazolam – a sedative
Midazolam , a drug whose expiration date dictates the execution schedule in Arkansas, is a sedative. The anesthesiologist can give you a little when you have your colonoscopy or when you are about to have surgery so you don’t get nervous about everything else that might happen. It doesn’t put you to sleep, but as a side effect, you may feel sleepy and probably don’t remember anything that happened while the drug was active. In surgery, you first get midazolam and then the pain reliever.
In Arkansas lethal injection, midazolam is the first of three drugs to be administered. Its dose is much higher than that which a surgical patient receives – 500 milligrams instead of four. The idea is to relax the prisoner and possibly make him unaware of what is happening. But this does not necessarily result in the prisoner losing consciousness or relieving pain. Two other drugs, thiopental or pentobarbital, can do this, but correctional units are already finding it difficult to obtain them . Midazolam is used instead.
Midazolam has been accused of several unsuccessful executions when the executed was not completely anesthetized. Following one of these, a 2014 execution that took almost two hours, Arizona agreed never to use the drug in lethal injection ever again . However, other states still use it, and the Supreme Court upheld it as a deadly injection drug in the Oklahoma case.
Vecuronium bromide causes paralysis
Like midazolam, vecuronium bromide is widely used in surgical procedures. It relaxes and paralyzes the muscles so that the patient cannot move. At a high enough dose, it can stop a person’s diaphragm from moving, which means they cannot breathe.
In a lethal injection, the drug is given at a dose of 100 milligrams, much more than the eight or so milligrams given during surgery. The idea is to hold the prisoner’s breath. But because it paralyzes the muscles, the person will not be able to move or speak to express their pain. Thus, this drug, if effective, can hide whether a prisoner is suffering.
Potassium chloride stops the heart
Potassium chloride is most commonly used medicinally as an easy way to replenish potassium stores. Potassium is an electrolyte that we need for the normal functioning of the body; it is found in Gatorade and is the reason people advertise coconut water as a great hydration drink during or after exercise.
Because tiny amounts of potassium are involved in nerves and muscles, large doses of potassium can interfere with basic bodily functions. Most importantly, potassium chloride can stop the heart.
The drug is usually administered in small doses throughout the day, with a maximum daily dose of 200 milliequivalents . The Arkansas Protocol gives a prisoner 240 milliequivalents at a time. If vecuronium bromide has done its job, the prisoner will be dead by the time this drug is administered. But if not, it is extremely painful, as the anesthesiologist testifies that he is caustic enough to destroy a person’s veins. Even at usual doses, patients complain of a burning sensation .
These drugs are not tested or approved for killing people, so there is no guarantee that they are humane. States had to amend execution protocols and often suspend executions for years because they could not get the drugs they needed.Pentobarbital , used to euthanize pets, was once the standard for lethal injection, but has recently been unavailable in prisons.
None of the drug manufacturers will sell their products for execution, so correctional departments have to look for hidden ways to obtain them (and usually try not to disclose their suppliers). In addition to the restrictions of manufacturers and sellers, the European Union also bans the export of any drugs that will be used as instruments of torture, which they determine for inclusion in execution.
However, the drugs in the Arkansas cocktail are still on the market due to their day-to-day use in medicine. All three drugs are on the World Health Organization’s Essential Medicines List . The state succeeded in obtaining all three in violation of drug dealer policies, and some of these companies have taken legal action ; but the executions continue anyway.