Lack of drug stalls lethal injections

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Some executions in the U.S. have been put on hold because of a shortage of one of the drugs used in lethal injections from coast to coast.

The shortage of sodium thiopental delayed an Oklahoma execution last month and led Kentucky’s governor to postpone the signing of death warrants for two inmates. Arizona is trying to get its hands on the drug in time for its next execution, in late October. California, with an inmate set to die late Thursday, said the shortage will force it to stop executions after that.

The sole U.S. manufacturer, Hospira Inc. of Lake Forest, Ill., has blamed the shortage on unspecified problems with its raw-material suppliers and said new batches of sodium thiopental will not be available until January at the earliest.

Nine states have a total of 17 executions scheduled between now and the end of January.

“We are working to get it back onto the market for our customers as soon as possible,” Hospira spokesman Dan Rosenberg said.

Sodium thiopental is a barbiturate, used primarily to anesthetize surgical patients and induce medical comas. It is also used to help terminally ill people commit suicide and sometimes to euthanize animals.

Thirty-three of the states that have lethal injection employ the three-drug combination that was created in the 1970s: First, sodium thiopental is given by syringe to put the inmate to sleep. Then two other drugs are administered: pancuronium bromide, which paralyzes muscles, and potassium chloride, which stops the heart.

Ohio and Washington state use just one drug to carry out executions: a single, extra-large dose of sodium thiopental.

Hospira has blamed the shortage on “raw-material supplier issues” since last spring. The company has refused to elaborate on the problem. But according to a letter obtained by the Associated Press from the Kentucky governor’s office, Hospira told state officials that it lost its sole supplier of the drug’s active ingredient.

Switching to another anesthetic would be difficult for some states. Some, like California, Missouri and Kentucky, adopted their execution procedures after lengthy court proceedings, and changing drugs could take time and invite lawsuits.

Last spring, Hospira sent a letter to all states outlining its discomfort with the use of its drugs for executions.

“Hospira provides these products because they improve or save lives and markets them solely for use as indicated on the product labeling,” Kees Groenhout, clinical research and development vice president, said in a March 31 letter to Ohio. “As such, we do not support the use of any of our products in capital punishment procedures.”

Jonathan Groner, an Ohio State University surgeon and death penalty opponent, speculated sodium thiopental’s medical uses “have shrunk to the point that the company doesn’t want to make a drug that has no use but to kill people.”