Dennis McGuire Execution - Doctor Angry at 'Horrific Procedure' - 'This Was Totally Unnecessary'
The anesthesiologist who warned Judge Gregory Frost about the possible effects and suffering Dennis McGuire would suffer during his execution is furious that Frost allowed the procedure to be carried out. The McGuire family is planning to sue over what it says was a "horrific" death that their loved one did not deserve.
"Initially, I was angry because I told them this would happen," David Waisel, associate professor of anesthesia at Harvard Medical School, told The Guardian. "Now I'm very sad about this. I'm also horrified and aghast. This was all totally unnecessary."
Since the state of Ohio has no pentobarbital, which it used to use in executions, it had to develop a new lethal combination of drugs in order to carry out McGuire's execution. In this case, the execution involved a dose of midazolam and hydromorphone. It was an untested use of the drugs in Ohio, and Waisel testified on McGuire's behalf, stating that the drugs would cause undue suffering for the prisoner.
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"In light of the insufficient dose of midazolam, it is substantially likely that McGuire will be aware of this agony and horror," Waisel wrote in his expert opinion to the court. There was also "substantial, palpable, objectively intolerable risk of experiencing the agony and horrifying sensation of unrelenting air hunger during the midazolam/hydromorphone execution under Ohio's execution protocol. It is substantially likely that McGuire will remain awake and actively conscious for up to five minutes, during which he will increasingly experience air hunger as the drugs suppress his ability to breathe."
Judge Frost ruled that the execution would continue as planned, but eyewitnesses say that Waisel's predictions were eerily accurate and that McGuire did, in fact, fight and suffer before dying. According to those reports, McGuire began straining against the restraints, gasped for air and made choking sounds for at least 10 minutes.
It took nearly 30 minutes for him to pass, which is much longer than normal executions take to carry out. Medical experts required an extension of five minutes to be certain of death, leaving authorities perplexed as to why it took so long and why they were unsure whether McGuire was dead or not.
"Proving death should not be difficult – there should be no heartbeat or pulse – so that leaves a question of why this took so long," Professor Jonathan Groner of Ohio State College of Medicine added.
