"Dennis McGuire's execution was not 'humane,' doctor says," is by Alan Johnson of the Columbus Dispatch. Here's an extended excerpt from the beginning:
A sworn statement from a California anesthesiologist says that Dennis McGuire probably experienced “true pain and suffering” in his Jan. 16 execution, contrary to the opinion of Ohio prison officials.
“To a degree of medical certainty this was not a humane execution,” Dr. Kent Diveley, an anesthesiologist at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego, said in an affidavit obtained for a lawsuit filed by McGuire’s family against the state.
Witnesses observed that McGuire, 53, gasped, choked, clenched his fists and appeared to struggle against his restraints for about 10 minutes after the administration of two drugs, midazolam and hydromorphone, before being pronounced dead at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville. It took more than 25 minutes for him to die after the drugs were administered. He was executed for the murder of 22-year-old Joy Stewart in 1989.
Diveley gave McGuire’s attorneys a three-page statement after examining the timeline of McGuire’s execution, the prison execution policy, and other documents. He did not examine the inmate’s body because he was cremated soon after the execution.
Diveley said hydromorphone is an “older narcotic used to treat pain.” The dosage of midazolam used by the state was far too low, he said.
“Neither of these drugs combined in the doses can be depended upon to produce a rapid loss of consciousness and death,” the anesthesiologist said. “It is possible when this combination of drugs is used for lethal injection there will be a delay of several minutes before the inmates loses consciousness preceding death.”
AP coverage is, "Ohio execution 'was not humane', anaesthesiologist determines," via the Guardian.
A condemned Ohio inmate put to death during a prolonged execution experienced pain and suffering before he lost consciousness, an anesthesiologist working for the family of the inmate determined in a report released Tuesday.
Neither of the drugs used to execute Dennis McGuire on 16 January can be relied on to produce a rapid loss of consciousness and death, according to the affidavit by Dr Kent Diveley of Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego.
A higher dose of the sedative used by Ohio is needed to render someone unconsciousness, Diveley said, while the painkiller used by the state causes eventual death from lack of oxygen but couldn’t be depended on to produce unconsciousness, he said.
“It is possible that when this combination of drugs is used for lethal injection there will be a delay of several minutes before the inmate loses consciousness preceding death,” Diveley said. He said apparent straining gestures by McGuire represented “conscious voluntary actions”.
“They exemplify true pain and suffering in the several minutes before he lost consciousness,” the affidavit said. “To a degree of medical certainty this was not a humane execution.”
Earlier coverage of Ohio lethal injection issues begins at the link.
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