Role of EMTs in Ohio executions criticized
By Suzanne Hoholik
The Columbus Dispatch
http://www.ems1.com/ems-products/me...99-Role-of-EMTs-in-Ohio-executions-criticized
By Suzanne Hoholik
The Columbus Dispatch
http://www.ems1.com/ems-products/me...99-Role-of-EMTs-in-Ohio-executions-criticized
COLUMBUS, Ohio — When the state carries out a death sentence, intermediate-level emergency medical technicians deliver the fatal drugs to condemned prisoners.
But a Columbus surgeon and longtime opponent of capital punishment contends that these technicians are not allowed to administer the drugs.
The procedure state officials follow during executions states that the lethal drugs should be given by a "person qualified under Ohio law to administer medications."
But under state law, intermediate EMTs are not authorized to work with these drugs.
"The EMTs are not trained to give these drugs and, in my opinion, there's no assurance they can do it properly," said Dr. Jonathan Groner, trauma medical director at Nationwide Children's Hospital.
"These drugs are way out of their scope, and there is risk of pain and suffering."