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Article: Lethal Injections Called Flawed; Inmates May Feel Pain, Study Finds
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- April 15, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Some prisoners executed by lethal injection might be so
inadequately sedated that they are awake enough to suffer agonizingly
painful deaths, according to a study.
Researchers who studied blood samples of inmates after executions
found that more than 40 percent contained levels of anesthesia so low
that the prisoners might have been conscious during their executions.
They also found that executioners in Virginia and Texas, homes to the
nation's busiest death chambers, were not trained to administer
anesthesia.
The authors of the study, published this week in the British
medical journal the Lancet, called for a moratorium on lethal
injections.
"There seems to be a significant fraction of ...