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on November 05, 2012 at 6:47 PM, updated November 05, 2012 at 7:19 PM
on November 05, 2012 at 6:47 PM, updated November 05, 2012 at 7:19 PM
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The drugs Pennsylvania Department of Corrections uses for its
lethal injection executions are not standard, FDA-approved medications, but
rather made-to-order drugs designed by the same kind of pharmacy - a
"compounding pharmacy" - that is currently at the center of a nationwide
epidemic of bacterial meningitis among people injected with made-to-order
steroids.
Compounding pharmacies mix drugs to order on site and are
largely free of the federal quality assurance regulation that applies to
standardized drugs, being regulated, instead, by state law.
In addition to producing adulterated products, such
compounding pharmacies also have a history of producing drugs that are not of
the dosage listed on the label.
That could be significant when it comes to the
constitutionality of Pennsylvania's lethal injection protocol because the US
Supreme Court has found that if the first drug in the three-drug protocol is not
administered properly or at the correct dosage, unconstitutional and
excruciating pain could result with the administration of the other two
drugs.
A federal class
action suit is challenging the constitutionality of Pennsylvania's protocol and
has
the potential to stay all executions in the state for some time.
Compounded drugs are often cheaper than their FDA-approved
equivalent.
The DOC fought hard to keep the source of its drugs out of
court, snubbing two federal court orders to divulge the source of the drugs last
week, finally complying at the last minute after the threat of sanctions.
The Attorney General's office also attempted on Monday to have
federal court proceedings in the case closed to the public. Judge Yvette Kane
denied that request, saying there were "issues of greater interest to the
public" at stake in the case.
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