More humane executions? Some look to veterinary model

Berkeley, Calif. — While debate continues over whether lethal injection in people is cruel and unusual punishment, some are looking to the veterinary community and its method of euthanasia — typically a large dose of pentobarbital.

Dr. John Dodam, past president of the American College of Veterinary Anesthesiologists and associate dean for academic affairs at the University of Missouri's College of Veterinary Medicine, says pentobarbital produces the most desirable effects for euthanasia in animals.

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) has lengthy guidelines on euthanasia for animals and recently added a cautionary message, saying the method is not intended for human lethal injections.

Dodam wouldn't comment on the results of pentobarbital in humans, but did say that other factors, meant to reduce stress in both the animal and the personnel involved in the process, are taken into consideration during euthanasia.

Ty Alper, associate director of the Death Penalty Clinic at the University of California Berkeley School of Law, says because so little study on how to execute humans has been done and so much study on how to execute animals has been done, the animal euthanasia methods are getting a closer look.

"Regardless of whether you are for or against the death penalty, most people who support it want the procedure to be humane and not excruciatingly painful," Alper says.

Currently, all death-penalty states use the same three-drug cocktail, concocted 30 years ago in Oklahoma, to end an inmate's life. Most medical experts say that, when administered correctly, the drugs are effective and not painful.

But death-penalty foes say many states use people with little medical training to administer the cocktail, which can lead to pain and suffering.

In addition, the drugs themselves can cause problems; pancuronium bromide, for example, makes it impossible for an inmate to express pain.

Veterinarians have testified and filed briefs on behalf of death-row inmates explaining how euthanasia is performed for animals, Alper says. Their basic point is that, while one drug is safe and humane for animals, the paralyzing drug isn't considered humane for animals and therefore isn't used, he says.

"One of the reasons people suggest that states don't want to change and why they are enamored by the paralyzing drug is that it makes every execution look more peaceful," Alper says.

Last month, an Ohio judge upheld the constitutionality of lethal injection, but ordered the state to change its methods and use only one drug. By so doing, he ordered that two accused killers, who brought the case, be executed by one drug if they are convicted and sentenced to death.

It's the first time a judge has ordered the use of a single drug for an execution, Alper says.