Editing Lethal injection (section)

==History==
Lethal injection gained popularity in the late 20th century as a form of [[Execution (legal)|execution]] intended to supplant [[electric chair|electrocution]], [[gas chamber|gas inhalation]], [[hanging]] and [[execution by firing squad|firing squad]], which were considered to be less humane. It has become the most common form of legal execution in the United States.

Lethal injection was proposed on January 17, 1888, by [[Julius Mount Bleyer]],<ref name="timeline">{{cite web |url=http://www.todesstrafe.de/thema/geschichte/geschichte/toedliche_injektion.php |title=Tödliche Injection |language=de |publisher=todesstrafe.de |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060506045416/http://www.todesstrafe.de/thema/geschichte/geschichte/toedliche_injektion.php |archive-date=May 6, 2006}}</ref> a [[New York (state)|New York]] doctor who praised it as being cheaper than [[hanging]].<ref name="uk">{{cite web |url=http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/injection.html |title=Capital Punishment U.K.: Lethal injection |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061004025049/http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/injection.html |archive-date=October 4, 2006}}</ref> Bleyer's idea would not be revived until the mid-1970s, when Texas and Oklahoma adopted the modern version of the method; a series of [[List of botched executions|botched executions]] led to an eventual rise of public disapproval of electrocutions in the 1980s. Lethal injections were first used by [[Nazi Germany]] to execute prisoners during [[World War II]]. Nazi Germany developed the [[Action T4]] euthanasia program led by [[Karl Brandt]]<ref name="Strassmann 2008 p. 8">{{cite book | last=Strassmann | first=W.P. | title=The Strassmanns: Science, Politics and Migration in Turbulent Times (1793-1993) | publisher=Berghahn Books | series=Berghahn Series | year=2008 | isbn=978-1-84545-416-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5cCuBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA8 | access-date=2022-10-11 | page=8}}</ref> as one method to terminate ''Lebensunwertes Leben'' ("[[life unworthy of life]]").<ref name="McGowen">R. McGowen. The Lethal Injection: The Origins of Lethal Injection.</ref> During the war, lethal injections were also administered to children detained at the [[Sisak concentration camp]], by the camp's commander, the physician [[Antun Najžer]].<ref>{{cite book|last=White|first=Joseph Robert|editor1-last=Megargee|editor1-first=Geoffrey P.|editor2-last=White|editor2-first=Joseph R.|year=2018|series=The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933–1945|title=Camps and Ghettos under European Regimes Aligned with Nazi Germany|chapter=Sisak I and II|volume=III|publisher=Indiana University Press|location=Bloomington, Indiana|isbn=978-0-25302-386-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8nBTDwAAQBAJ|page=74}}</ref> The [[Royal Commission on Capital Punishment 1949–1953]] considered lethal injection, but eventually ruled it out after pressure from the [[British Medical Association]] (BMA).<ref name="uk"/>

===Implementation===
On May 10, 1977, [[Oklahoma]] became the first U.S. state to approve lethal injection when Governor [[David Boren]] signed a bill into law.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/article/fort-lauderdale-news-oklahoma-becomes-th/126186220/ "Oklahoma OKs Drug Executions"], UPI report in ''Fort Lauderdale (FL) News'', May 11, 1977, p.8</ref> Episcopal Reverend Bill Wiseman<ref name="Washington Post 2003">{{cite news | title=Poison Penalty | newspaper=Washington Post | date=2003-12-07 | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2003/12/07/poison-penalty/6a12bcf9-0ca6-4b6f-bc96-4fddd6ca5d60/ | access-date=2022-10-11}}</ref> had introduced it into the Oklahoma legislature, where it passed and was quickly sent to the Governor's desk (Title 22, Section 1014(A)). The next day, Texas became the second U.S. state to approve a lethal injection law. Since then, until 2004, 37 of the 38 states using capital punishment introduced lethal injection statutes (the last state, [[Nebraska]], maintained electrocution as its sole method until adopting injection in 2009, after its [[Nebraska Supreme Court|Supreme Court]] deemed the electric chair unconstitutional).<ref name = "hrw-i"/>

On May 11, 1977, the day after the new method had become state law, [[Oklahoma]]'s state [[medical examiner]] [[Jay Chapman (physician)|Jay Chapman]] proposed a new, less painful method of execution known as Chapman's protocol: "An [[intravenous therapy|intravenous]] [[saline (medicine)|saline]] drip shall be started in the prisoner's arm, into which shall be introduced a lethal injection consisting of an ultrashort-acting [[barbiturate]] in combination with a chemical [[paralytic]]."<ref name="hrw">{{cite journal |url=http://hrw.org/reports/2006/us0406/ |title=So Long as They Die: Lethal Injections in the United States |journal=[[Human Rights Watch]] |first1=Jamie |last1=Fellner |first2=Sarah |last2=Tofte |volume=18 |number=1(G) |date=April 2006 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060619213913/http://hrw.org/reports/2006/us0406/ |archive-date=June 19, 2006 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref name="hrw-i">{{cite book |chapter-url=http://hrw.org/reports/2006/us0406/3.htm |chapter=I. Development of Lethal Injection Protocols |title=So Long as They Die: Lethal Injections in the United States |publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]] |first1=Jamie |last1=Fellner |first2=Sarah |last2=Tofte |volume=18 |number=1(G) |date=April 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130605211812/http://www.hrw.org/reports/2006/us0406/3.htm |df=mdy-all |archive-date=June 5, 2013}}</ref> The Chapman protocol was approved by [[anesthesiologist]] Stanley Deutsch, formerly Head of the Department of Anaesthesiology of the [[University of Oklahoma|Oklahoma University]] Medical School.<ref name="McGowen"/> 
On August 29, 1977,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.prisonport.com/index.php/Death-Row-links/Texas-Execution-Procedures-and-History.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715113222/http://www.prisonport.com/index.php/Death-Row-links/Texas-Execution-Procedures-and-History.html |archive-date=July 15, 2011 |title=Texas Execution Procedures and History}}</ref> 
[[Texas]] adopted the new method of execution, switching from electrocution.

On December 7, 1982, Texas became the first U.S. state or territory in the world to use lethal injection to carry out capital punishment, for the execution of [[Charles Brooks, Jr.]]<ref name = "groner">{{cite journal |author=Groner JI |title=Lethal injection: a stain on the face of medicine |journal=BMJ |volume=325 |issue=7371 |pages=1026–8 |year=2002 |pmid=12411367 |doi=10.1136/bmj.325.7371.1026 |pmc=1124498}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/dr_facts.html |title=Death Row Facts |publisher=Texas Department of Criminal Justice |access-date=November 29, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120630121403/http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/dr_facts.html |archive-date=June 30, 2012 }}</ref>

The [[People's Republic of China]] began using it in 1997, [[Guatemala]] in 1996, the [[Philippines]] in 1999, [[Thailand]] in 2003, and [[Taiwan]] in 2005.<ref name="uk"/> Vietnam first used this method in 2013.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://vietnewsonline.vn/News/Politics/16818/Vietnam-to-replace-firing-squads-with-lethal-injections.htm |title=Vietnam to replace firing squads with lethal injections |publisher=Viet News Online |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110221121639/http://www.vietnewsonline.vn/News/Politics/16818/Vietnam-to-replace-firing-squads-with-lethal-injections.htm |archive-date=February 21, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://talkvietnam.com/2012/10/lethal-injections-to-replace-guns-in-november/ |title=Lethal injections to replace guns in November |date=October 23, 2012 |publisher=TalkVietnam |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140423162101/http://www.talkvietnam.com/2012/10/lethal-injections-to-replace-guns-in-november/ |archive-date=April 23, 2014 |df=mdy-all |access-date=November 29, 2012 }}</ref> The Philippines abolished the death penalty in 2006, with their last execution being in 2000. All seven executions made from 1999 to 2000 were carried out using lethal injection.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.philstar.com/the-freeman/opinion/2023/02/08/2243319/death-penalty-recent-history |title=Death penalty in recent history |website=The Freeman |first=Todd |last=Sales Lucero |date=February 8, 2023 |access-date=December 22, 2024 }}</ref> Guatemalan law still allows for the death penalty and lethal injection is the sole method allowed, but none have been carried out since 2000 when the country televised the live double executions of [[Amílcar Cetino Pérez and Tomás Cerrate Hernández]].<ref name="cornell-guatemala">{{cite web |url=http://www.deathpenaltyworldwide.org/country-search-post.cfm?country=Guatemala |title=Guatemala |publisher=Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide |date=September 24, 2012 |access-date=November 7, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170518151837/http://www.deathpenaltyworldwide.org/country-search-post.cfm?country=Guatemala |archive-date=May 18, 2017 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref name="pri20140507">{{cite web |url=http://www.pri.org/stories/2014-05-07/these-are-countries-still-using-lethal-injection-kill-people |title=These are the countries still using lethal injection to kill people |website=PRI.org |first=Jeanne |last=Kim |date=May 7, 2014 |access-date=November 7, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161108142356/http://www.pri.org/stories/2014-05-07/these-are-countries-still-using-lethal-injection-kill-people |archive-date=November 8, 2016 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

The export of drugs to be used for lethal injection was banned by the [[European Union]] (EU) in 2011, together with other items under the EU Torture Regulation. Since then, [[pentobarbital]] followed [[thiopental]] in the European Union's ban.

===Complications of executions and cessation of supply of lethal injection drugs===
By early 2014, a number of botched executions involving lethal injection, and a rising shortage of suitable drugs, had some U.S. states reconsidering lethal injection as a form of execution. [[Tennessee]], which had previously offered inmates a choice between lethal injection and the [[electric chair]], passed a law in May 2014 which gave the state the option to use the electric chair if lethal injection drugs were either unavailable or declared unconstitutional.<ref name="wapo20140523">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/05/23/tennessee-has-long-had-the-electric-chair-but-now-its-going-to-be-available-for-more-executions/ |title=Tennessee has long had the electric chair, but now it's going to be available for more executions |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |first=Mark |last=Berman |date=May 23, 2014 |access-date=May 23, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140523183617/http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/05/23/tennessee-has-long-had-the-electric-chair-but-now-its-going-to-be-available-for-more-executions/ |archive-date=May 23, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> At the same time, [[Wyoming]] and [[Utah]] were considering the use of [[execution by firing squad]] in addition to other existing execution methods.<ref name="cbs20140522">{{cite news |url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/firing-squad-mulled-as-execution-backup-to-lethal-injection-in-wyoming/ |title=Will Wyoming turn to firing squads for executions? |work=CBS News |agency=Associated Press |first=Ben |last=Neary |date=May 22, 2014 |access-date=May 23, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140522195536/http://www.cbsnews.com/news/firing-squad-mulled-as-execution-backup-to-lethal-injection-in-wyoming/ |archive-date=May 22, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

In 2016, [[Pfizer]] joined over 20 American and European pharmaceutical manufacturers that had previously blocked the sale of their drugs for use in lethal injections, effectively closing the open market for [[Food and Drug Administration|FDA]]-approved manufacturers for any potential lethal execution drug.<ref name="NYT-Pfizer">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/14/us/pfizer-execution-drugs-lethal-injection.html |title=Pfizer Blocks the Use of Its Drugs in Executions |work=[[The New York Times]] |last=Eckholm |first=Erik |date=May 13, 2016 |access-date=May 16, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160516183722/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/14/us/pfizer-execution-drugs-lethal-injection.html |archive-date=May 16, 2016 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> In the [[execution of Carey Dean Moore]] on August 14, 2018, the State of Nebraska used a novel drug cocktail comprising [[diazepam]], [[fentanyl]], [[cisatracurium]], and [[potassium chloride]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.omaha.com/news/crime/nebraska-has-executed-convicted-killer-carey-dean-moore-in-its/article_83cf2f84-9894-5de8-b58f-8140dcfd11f1.html|title='A monumental day': Nebraska executes Carey Dean Moore in state's first lethal injection|first=Joe Duggan, Paul Hammel, Emily Nitcher and Martha Stoddard World-Herald|last=Bureau|date=August 15, 2018 }}</ref> over the strong objections of the German pharmaceutical company [[Fresenius Kabi]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45185687|title=Nebraska first to use fentanyl in execution|date=August 14, 2018|work=BBC News}}</ref>

[[Potassium acetate]] had been incorrectly used in place of [[potassium chloride]] in [[Oklahoma]] in January 2015 for the execution of [[Charles Frederick Warner]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Oklahoma used wrong drug in Charles Warner's execution, autopsy report says|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/oct/08/oklahoma-wrong-drug-execution-charles-warner}}</ref> In August 2017, the State of [[Florida]] first used the drug in the execution of [[Mark Asay|Mark James Asay]] using a combination of [[etomidate]], [[rocuronium bromide]], and potassium acetate as part of a new protocol.
<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/florida/fl-reg-florida-execution-asay-20170824-story.html|title=Florida executes convicted killer Mark Asay using new drug|author=Jason Dearon|publisher=Sun Sentinel}}</ref>