By Tallahassee, FL
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wfsu/local-wfsu-988402.mp3
Regan McCarthy – Manuel Valle spent three decades on death row - one of the longest sentences served by a condemned prisoner in Florida. As Regan McCarthy reports Valle received several stays of execution because of concerns about a change in the use of the state's lethal cocktail and an almost three-hour delay on the day of his execution as officials waited for a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court on Valle's final appeal.
Pentobarbital is a drug used to "quiet the brain" in extreme seizure cases or rare surgeries. It's what doctors call a niche drug, but one that they say is necessary to save lives. It's also the drug now being used to render a prisoner unconscious in conjunction with two others used to kill a prisoner during lethal injection procedures in the state of Florida. And it's how Manuel Valle died Wednesday. He was the first prisoner to die via the new cocktail in the state, following the discontinuation of a previous drug, and despite concerns Department of Corrections Spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger says the state met its goal of delivering a "humane and dignified death."
"We have safe guards in place in our procedure. After the administration of the first drug, the team warden does a physical consciousness check to make sure the inmate is unconscious before we continue with the execution and that was done and the inmate was indeed unconscious and so we continued with the execution."
But Doctor David Waisel says he's unconvinced. Waisel is an anesthesiologist and professor at Harvard medical school who testified in Valle's appeals.
"Number one, that's the fox guarding the hen house. They have a vested interest in saying that there were no problems. So, I don't know the validity of that statement. That's number one. Number two, is just because it went okay once doesn't mean the system is satisfactory."
Waisel says there are cases when it didn't go okay too. He mentions Roy Blankenship's case in Georgia as an example. In that case, after receiving a dose of Pentobarbital Blankenship reportedly began thrashing about in spasms for a number of minutes. Dr. Waisel says that's proof the drug didn't work in the way doctors expected it would. He estimates Blankenship experienced a sensation similar to suffocation. He says doctors can continue to give doses of the drug until the prisoner is unconscious, but he says if the drug still weren't working like they thought, delivering the next two drugs, the second the paralyze him and the third to stop his heart, would be anything but humane.
"Pentobarbitol being injected does not cause pain. The concern is that it will not work in the way that the state desires it to work so that the inmate will have a higher likelihood of being awake and being paralyzed from the next drug, the muscle relaxant, which is an incredibly awful feeling, being awake and feeling the potassium chloride going in, which is another burning painful feeling."
The drug's manufacturer, a Danish company called Lundbeck, has issued statements detailing their concerns that the drug might not work in the way officials expect it will. And it's asked states that use the drug for capital punishment to stop. Now Lundbeck spokeswoman Sally Benjamin Young says the company is taking steps to keep the drug out of prisons. She says using pentobarbital, also called Nembutal, to kill people goes against everything her company stands for. Lundbeck considered not making it anymore, but doctors need it. So, they've devised another plan.
"Prior to receiving Nembetal, institutions, hospitals that want to use the therapy for treatment of patients are asked to sign a form stating that they are purchasing Nembetal for their own use, that they will not redistribute without written authorization from Lundbeck and by signing the form they agree that the product will not be made available for use in capital punishment."
Benjamin Young says the program went into effect in early July. She says eventually the drug supply states like Florida have will expire, meaning the states will have to make a new plan.
"I don't know if this drug were not available what the next drug in line would be that prisons would use in its place. All I can tell you is that we are doing everything we can to restrict use in lethal injections, which as I said goes against everything we are in business to do, but to ensure that it remains available to the patients who need it."
Despite strong statements of support for continuing the death penalty in Florida from the state's leadership, including the governor, attorney general and House Speaker, State Representative Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda, a Democrat from Tallahassee, filed legislation for the second year in a row to oust the practice. She says getting rid of the death penalty would free up humanitarian efforts to focus on other purposes and would free up state money to pay for things like more police.