Ohio can't find doctors to offer execution advice

[samanthajane13]

By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS
Associated Press Writer
October 26, 2009, 10:19 AM

Ohio is struggling to find medical professionals willing to advise the state on the best way to put condemned inmates to death.

Attorney General Richard Cordray says in a court filing that ethical and professional considerations are deterring doctors and others from offering advice about lethal injection.

Executions are on hold in Ohio while the state develops new injection policies following a Sept. 15 execution that was stopped because the inmate had no usable veins.

Cordray's concerns came in a filing in U.S. District Court Friday.

He says his office has reached out to judges, police and lawmakers for help trying to find medical professionals willing to talk to the state.

He also says five lawmakers he didn't identify have agreed to try to find medical staff to help.


http://www.buffalonews.com/260/story/839875.html

[BeastofBears]

By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS
Associated Press Writer
October 26, 2009, 10:19 AM

Ohio is struggling to find medical professionals willing to advise the state on the best way to put condemned inmates to death.

Attorney General Richard Cordray says in a court filing that ethical and professional considerations are deterring doctors and others from offering advice about lethal injection.

Executions are on hold in Ohio while the state develops new injection policies following a Sept. 15 execution that was stopped because the inmate had no usable veins.

Cordray's concerns came in a filing in U.S. District Court Friday.

He says his office has reached out to judges, police and lawmakers for help trying to find medical professionals willing to talk to the state.

He also says five lawmakers he didn't identify have agreed to try to find medical staff to help.


http://www.buffalonews.com/260/story/839875.html

Well, maybe they should go back to a method that requires no doctor's advice, something time-honored and proven...a bullet, a rope, a guillotine...there you go, no doctor needed!

No applause please, just send money, Ohio! *bows*

[samanthajane13]

I agree, BoB!!!

Just hang or shoot their mangy azzez immediately after they're convicted.

[BeastofBears]

I agree, BoB!!!

Just hang or shoot their mangy azzez immediately after they're convicted.

Yeah, Sam! To quote Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott, The more complicated the plumbing, the easier it is to stop the drain. Enough of this lethal injection already. Lethally inject some lead, imo!

[samanthajane13]

Ohio GOP lawmakers: Execution process can be fixed
By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS, Associated Press Writer Andrew Welsh-huggins, Associated Press Writer – Wed Nov 4, 6:27 pm ET

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Two Republican lawmakers advising Ohio's Democratic governor on changes to the state's lethal injection process say it shouldn't be hard to fix the system.

The lawmakers, both proponents of capital punishment, are among state legislators helping Gov. Ted Strickland find medical personnel willing to help the state improve its injection process. Both say they got involved to make sure recent problems with lethal injection don't lead to attempts to eliminate the death penalty.

"We want to make sure our well-established judicial rights to administer capital punishment in appropriate cases are preserved and will not be defeated by new and ingenious means of dodging the executioner," Sen. Bill Seitz, of Cincinnati, said Wednesday.

Seitz said he's talked to lawyers and doctors but has yet to find anyone willing to come forward. But his conversations have suggested changes Ohio could adopt, ranging from using a retired doctor during executions to requiring that inmates drink enough liquids before an execution to keep their veins healthy.

Sen. Tim Grendell has contacted current and retired doctors looking for advice.

"I find it difficult to believe there isn't a functional solution to this problem," said Grendell, of Chesterland.

The death penalty is temporarily on hold in Ohio while the state develops the new policies. The update follows a botched execution on Sept. 15 that was halted when executioners couldn't find a suitable vein on inmate Romell Broom.

Broom, who was convicted of kidnapping, raping and killing a 14-year old girl in 1984, complained in an affidavit following the execution attempt that his executioners painfully hit muscle and bone during as many as 18 attempts to reach a vein.

The state said in a court filing last month it was having a hard time finding medical personnel willing to consult about injection because of professional and ethical rules. The rules — which generally prohibit doctors, nurses and others from involvement in capital punishment — are deterring such personnel from speaking publicly or privately about alternatives to the state's lethal injection process.

Among the changes the state is considering: injecting lethal drugs into inmates' bone marrow or muscles as an alternative to — or a backup for — the traditional intravenous execution procedure.

Also Wednesday, the Ohio Supreme Court set two new execution dates.

The court set a May 13 execution date for Michael Beuke, 47, convicted of the 1983 murder of Robert Craig, a man he met while hitchhiking on Interstate 275 in southwest Ohio.

The court also set a June 10 execution date for Richard Nields, 59, sentenced to die for the 1997 death of his girlfriend, 59-year-old Patricia Newsome, at their home in Finneytown in southwest Ohio.

Ohio has put 32 people to death since 1999, when executions resumed in the state.

(This version CORRECTS the spelling of Broom's first name to Romell.)


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091104/ap_on_re_us/us_death_penalty_ohio_4;_ylt=AkzN.DXFbpPmcsv7b0GlO BRH2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTE2NWJmMXJtBHBvcwMyBHNlYwN5bi1yL WItbGVmdARzbGsDZXYtb2hpb2dvcGxh

[wind149]

Well OH have I got some answers for you!! Child rapists and killers should be castrated with dull kitchen knives, then whipped with a big ole prison snake whip like they used to use on prisoners in the deep south, especially in LA in the 20's and 30's, then salt rubbed in the wounds, then hang them high in a tall tree in the town square like they used to do too.
Murderers like serial killers should either be hung, gassed or dixie fried to the chair and all others depending on the nature of their crimes, it should be up to the state what method to use, anything but LI which is a joke, the first shot puts them to sleep, they feel absolutely nothing and there sits the victim's families watching the scumbag that took their loved one from them, just going to sleep peacefully. Unlike when they used the chair and gas, they watched them die painfully and that is the way they should go out, their victims suffered greatly why shouldn't they?

That scumbag sniper is due to executed on the 10th and today I open up CNN to see some bleeder lawyer advocating for clemency for this puke and I hope to hell the Supreme Court does not order a stay, this creep and his teen partner picked off people like hunters go after game, the teen partner blew his life up by doing this puke's bidding and he will never see freedom again and frankly, he should have gotten the DP, he was a willing participant, no guns were held to his head and they killed 14 people and wounded others including a young boy and this tool lawyer wants to save his sorry ass because he claimed he was "warped" for being in the service and having to kill?? SO that means every other loser who has murdered people and was in the service can use the I was damaged from my years in the military and having to kill people to survive defense and the courts will be clogged with these cases. We coddle these losers who can't hack it in society, they are given the DP and almost everytime someone is executed in this country, people go bat s!it claiming that the person will suffer and that execution is murder, but these people are hypocrites, watch and see how they react when it is their daughter that is raped and murdered, they want to strap them to the gurney personally!! So yeah, OH, listen to all of us here, we got the right answers, screw humane, suffer is the name of the game for scumbags that rape and murder!!

[samanthajane13]

Ohio plans execution method untried on prisoners
By JULIE CARR SMYTH, AP Statehouse Correspondent Julie Carr Smyth, Ap Statehouse Correspondent – Fri Nov 13, 6:22 pm ET

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio waded into uncharted territory Friday when it announced plans to switch from the usual three-drug cocktail used to execute inmates to a one-drug method that death penalty opponents praised as a step forward — albeit one that has apparently never been tried on prisoners.

The switch came two months after an Ohio inmate walked away from a botched execution attempt, and it is almost certain to get tied up in appeals and draw the close attention of other states that have long used the three-drug method.

"I chose to do it because I'm getting sued either way," Terry Collins, Ohio prisons director, said Friday.

Under the three-drug method, the first drug knocks out an inmate, the second paralyzes him and the third stops his heart — a process that death penalty opponents argue is excruciatingly painful if the first drug doesn't work.

The single-drug technique amounts to an overdose of anesthesia, Collins said.

Death penalty opponents hailed Collins' decision as making executions more humane but expressed reservations about using such an untested method. The same drug is commonly used to euthanize pets, to sedate surgery patients and in some parts of Europe has been used in assisted suicides.

"This is a significant step forward," said Ty Alper, associate director of the Death Penalty Clinic at the University of California, Berkeley, law school. "Paralyzing inmates before executing them — so we can't tell whether they are suffering — is a barbaric practice, and Ohio should be commended for stopping it."

Richard Dieter, director of the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center, noted the new practice would essentially be an experiment performed on inmates.

"They're human subjects and they're not willingly part of this," Dieter said. "This is experimenting with the unknown, and that always raises concerns."

Ohio's decision, filed in papers Friday in U.S. District Court, said it would switch from a three-drug cocktail to a single injection of thiopental sodium into a vein. A separate two-drug muscle injection will be available as a backup.

Prison officials say that, although the techniques are new for executions, all three drugs are widely used in medical settings and their effects well understood.

With the change, Ohio also said it was ready to resume executions, on hold in the state since the unsuccessful attempt Sept. 15 to put to death Romell Broom, who raped and killed a 14-year-old girl in 1984.

Gov. Ted Strickland stopped the execution after two hours when executioners failed to find a suitable vein. Broom complained in an affidavit after the execution attempt that his executioners painfully hit muscle and bone during as many as 18 attempts to reach a vein.

The state said the new procedure will be in place by Nov. 30 in time to execute another inmate, Kenneth Biros, on Dec. 8. A federal judge had temporarily halted his execution because of the botched Broom execution but left open the possibility of the procedure taking place.

Temporary moratoriums are also in place in California and Maryland, where courts are reviewing proposed changes to injection procedures, though none involving a switch to a single drug.

Other states are unlikely to make a similar switch soon, said Doug Berman, an Ohio State University law professor and death penalty expert.

Several states have joined Ohio in facing constitutional challenges to their three-drug execution procedures, but Ohio is the first to drop that approach in favor of one dose.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of lethal injection last year, but Ohio's new system is substantially different from the three-drug process the court examined. In its ruling, Chief Justice John Roberts briefly addressed the prospect of using a single sedative in a dose large enough to cause death.

The one-drug method, Roberts said, "has problems of its own, and has never been tried by a single state."

That means Ohio could be opening itself to new litigation, said Deborah Denno, a law professor at Fordham University in New York and lethal injection expert.

"The inmates who are going to be executed could challenge the constitutionality of what's being raised in Ohio," Denno said Friday.

Collins said state officials consulted with an array of experts, including pharmacologists, pharmacists, coroners and anesthesiologist Mark Dershwitz, a University of Massachusetts professor and physician who advises state prison systems across the country.

The state said in a court filing last month it was having a hard time finding medical personnel willing to consult about injection because of professional and ethical rules.

The rules — which generally prohibit doctors, nurses and others from involvement in capital punishment — were deterring such personnel from speaking publicly or privately about alternatives to the state's lethal injection process.

Ohio has put 32 people to death since 1999, when executions resumed in the state.

___

Associated Press writer Andrew Welsh-Huggins contributed to this report.

___

On The Net:

Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction: http://www.drc.ohio.gov


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091113/ap_on_re_us/us_death_penalty_ohio_s_method;_ylt=AlDQ3_C1EWSe19 3bW520ztVH2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTE1aGJtcjJhBHBvcwM1BHNlYw N5bi1jaGFubmVsBHNsawNvaGlvcGxhbnNleGU-

[samanthajane13]

Ohio: 1 lethal injection drug should end lawsuit
By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS, Associated Press Writer Andrew Welsh-huggins, Associated Press Writer – 50 mins ago

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio says its decision to become the first state to execute inmates using one drug eliminates further discussion of whether the injection causes pain and could be unconstitutional.

Some death penalty opponents agree but say it could be years before other states follow suit.

Attorney General Richard Cordray says a long-running lawsuit against the state is based on allegations that drugs that paralyze and stop the heart could be painful for condemned inmates.

Cordray said Friday the state's decision to adopt a single, fatal anesthetic removes that risk and renders the lawsuit's arguments moot.

State Public Defender Tim Young, whose offices represents some inmates involved in the lawsuit, supports the single anesthetic.

The state's decision comes two months after an Ohio death row inmate walked away from an unsuccessful execution.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio's death chamber is set to resume executions next month using a single drug that has been used in the U.S. to euthanize pets but never to put condemned prisoners to death.

Barring legal challenges, condemned inmate Kenneth Biros is scheduled Dec. 8 to be the first prisoner in the nation to be executed using a single dose of the drug thiopental sodium instead of the combination of three drugs that the state had been using.

A federal judge had temporarily halted Biros' execution because of the botched execution of Romell Broom in September, which prompted the new execution method announced Friday. Executioners couldn't find a suitable vein on Broom to administer the lethal drugs, and he walked away from the execution chamber after the governor issued a temporary stay.

Broom is sentenced to die for raping and murdering a 14-year-old girl in 1984.

In announcing plans to switch to a one-drug method by Nov. 30, Ohio waded into uncharted waters. Death penalty opponents praised the new rules as a step forward — albeit one that has never been tried on prisoners. However, the decision is almost certain to be appealed and draw the close attention of other states that have long used the three-drug method.

"I chose to do it because I'm getting sued either way," Terry Collins, Ohio prisons director, said Friday.

Under the three-drug method, the first drug knocks out an inmate, the second paralyzes him and the third stops his heart — a process that death penalty opponents argue is excruciatingly painful if the first drug doesn't work.

The single-drug technique amounts to an overdose of anesthesia, Collins said.

Death penalty opponents hailed Collins' decision as making executions more humane but expressed reservations about using an untested method. The same drug is commonly used to euthanize pets, sedate surgery patients and in some parts of Europe has been used in assisted suicides.

"This is a significant step forward," said Ty Alper, associate director of the Death Penalty Clinic at the University of California, Berkeley, law school. "Paralyzing inmates before executing them — so we can't tell whether they are suffering — is a barbaric practice, and Ohio should be commended for stopping it."

Richard Dieter, director of the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center, called the new practice an experiment on inmates.

"They're human subjects and they're not willingly part of this," Dieter said. "This is experimenting with the unknown, and that always raises concerns."

Ohio's decision, filed in papers Friday in U.S. District Court, said it would switch from the three-drug method to a single injection of thiopental sodium into a vein. A separate two-drug muscle injection will be available as a backup.

Collins said the backup method, had it been in place, would have given Broom's executioners an alternative. He repeatedly commended the execution team as professional and competent, but noted that there was nothing for them to do when Broom's vein was incapable of sustaining the flow of the IV drugs.

Gov. Ted Strickland stopped Broom's execution after two hours when executioners failed to find a suitable vein. Broom later complained in an affidavit that his executioners painfully hit muscle and bone during as many as 18 attempts to reach a vein.

Temporary moratoriums on executions also are in place in California and Maryland, where courts are reviewing proposed changes to injection procedures, though none involving a switch to a single drug.

Other states are unlikely to make a similar switch soon, said Doug Berman, an Ohio State University law professor and death penalty expert.

Several states besides Ohio also have faced constitutional challenges to their three-drug execution procedures, but Ohio is the first to drop that approach in favor of a single-drug method.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of lethal injection last year, but Ohio's new system is substantially different than the three-drug process the court examined. In its ruling, Chief Justice John Roberts briefly addressed the prospect of using a single sedative in a dose large enough to cause death.

The one-drug method, Roberts said, "has problems of its own, and has never been tried by a single state."

That means Ohio could be opening itself to new litigation, said Deborah Denno, a law professor at Fordham University in New York and lethal injection expert.

"The inmates who are going to be executed could challenge the constitutionality of what's being raised in Ohio," Denno said Friday.

Ohio has put 32 people to death since 1999, when executions resumed in the state.

___

Associated Press writer Andrew Welsh-Huggins contributed to this report.

___

On The Net:

Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction: http://www.drc.ohio.gov


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091114/ap_on_re_us/us_death_penalty_ohio

[BeastofBears]

Seriously. after reading these, HOW is lethal injection better than other methods used over the centuries? For either the condemned or society?

[samanthajane13]

Sniper squad, gas chamber or electric chair.