 |
 |
 |
 |
Helping Karl
New York Times
June 2006
But in February a federal judge in California said execution records showed that some prisoners might have suffered. He gave the state two options: either a doctor had to be present to make sure a condemned inmate was unconscious before the second and third drugs were injected, or the execution had to be performed with sodium thiopental alone.
California found two anesthesiologists who agreed to attend its next scheduled execution, of Michael Morales, a murderer. But both doctors later withdrew, and the state said it could not find other medical experts to help carry out the sentence. The execution has been postponed at least until September, when the court will examine the state's lethal injection protocol.
In challenging the protocol, Mr. Morales's lawyer, the onetime Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth W. Starr, cited an article published last year in The Lancet, a British medical journal. The main author was Dr. Lubarsky.
The researchers obtained toxicology reports on blood taken after death from 49 executed prisoners in four states, and found that 43 percent had levels of sodium thiopental so low that they might have suffered during execution.
"The data suggest that some people are awake," Dr. Lubarsky said.
But other anesthesiology experts, even some who oppose the death penalty, have challenged the findings, saying many of the blood samples were taken too long after death to give a reliable measure of what the drug's level was during execution.
Dr. Lubarsky acknowledged that the findings were being disputed and said he and his colleagues were doing additional research.
"We may find that we're wrong," he said. "We'll continue to search for a better understanding of what's going on, one that will hopefully help inform and guide the discussion taking place around this issue."
Denise Grady
New York Times
23rd June 2006
