COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s most recent batches of
lethal injection drugs were produced by a company that wants states to
stop using them for capital punishment, records show.
Lake Forest,
Ill.-based Hospira Inc. says it manufactures the drugs, the sedative
midazolam and the painkiller hydromophone, to enhance and save the lives
of patients it helps treat. The company says it objects to their use in
capital punishment.
Hospira’s position adds to the state’s
difficulties obtaining drugs to put condemned inmates to death at a time
when several other states, including Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas, face
similar challenges obtaining drugs.
Other drug makers have prohibited the use of their drugs in executions, and states are running out of
options.
Ohio
purchased the Hospira-made drugs in 2012 and 2013 from San
Francisco-based drug distributor McKesson, according to invoices and
packing slips obtained by The Associated Press through a public records
request.
The two drugs are required by Ohio’s execution policy.
Their first use, in the prolonged execution last month of a pregnant
woman’s condemned killer, sparked calls for a moratorium on capital
punishment.
Despite its opposition, Hospira also says there’s only
so much it can do, given what it calls "the complex supply chain and
the gray market" of U.S. drug distribution. It says it can’t guarantee a
U.S. prison could not obtain restricted products outside of the normal
distribution process.
The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction declined to comment.
Condemned
inmate Dennis McGuire, 53, made gasp-like snoring sounds for several
minutes during his 26-minute execution on Jan. 16, the longest since
Ohio resumed putting inmates to death in 1999. He appeared unconscious
while making those sounds.
His family has sued Ohio, alleging the
use of the drugs led to a death that was cruel and inhuman. The
Department of Rehabilitation and Correction is preparing a report on his
execution. Gov. John Kasich delayed an execution scheduled for March
until the fall to allow time for the report to be completed.
After
McGuire’s execution, Louisiana announced it was switching to the same
two drugs. Records obtained by the AP showed Ohio faxed a copy of its
execution policies, including the use of the two drugs, to the head of
Louisiana’s prisons agency on Jan. 27.
Florida uses midazolam as the first of three drugs. The agency won’t say where it gets the drug.
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