Maryland Executioners Unqualified for Their Job, Doctors Say

BALTIMORE — Two doctors claimed during testimony for a lawsuit that is challenging lethal injection procedures that the prison personnel assigned to carry out Maryland’s executions are unqualified.

As part of a lawsuit filed by death row inmate Vernon L. Evans, Jr., physicians were called to the stand to testify that there are procedural missteps and a lack of training for executions. Evans’ attorneys are using these claims to argue that the state’s lethal injection procedures violate the Eighth Amendment for cruel and unusual punishment.

Evans claims that the lethal-injection procedure would be extremely painful for him due to the extensive damage he has done to his veins with intravenous heroin use.

The trial caused Evans’ execution to be postponed until Feb. 6 so that the courts may hear pending legal challenges.

One concern raised in the lawsuit is the lack of medical personnel present during executions. According to testimony, a certified nurse was the most medically trained individual who participates in executions, with the exception of a doctor who is only on-site to pronounce the death of the inmate.

Another concern is the insertion and monitoring of the IV that transports the chemicals into an inmate’s body. If the tube is not inserted properly, and the series of chemicals emitted into the inmate’s bloodstream don’t knock the inmate out, it could be possible for him to be conscious when the heart-stopping chemical is injected, critics say.

Maryland is among 37 states that use an almost identical protocol for lethal injection.