Idaho halted the execution of serial killer Thomas Eugene Creech on Wednesday after medical team members repeatedly failed to find a vein where they could establish an intravenous line to carry out the lethal injection. Creech, 73, has been in prison half a century, convicted of five murders in three states and suspected of several more. Creech, one of the longest-serving death row inmates in the U.S., was wheeled into the execution chamber at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution on a gurney a
Im not a fan of the death penalty, but how the fuck do you mess up injecting someone.
More than likely it’s not being performed by anyone with any real medical training.
I work in healthcare, I don’t know anyone in my field who would think executions are something they would be willing to apply their skills towards.
I bet some phlebotomists could be convinced.
Yeah, but they’re typically only trained to take blood. You wouldn’t want one trying to insert an IV on ya or anything.
Better than someone with no “real medical training.”
Yeah, prob better than nothing. But, I doubt many phlebotomists would be very excited about the prospect either, especially considering they don’t get paid very well to begin with. Something tells me the state isn’t paying a whole bunch of bonuses to people on the execution team.
It can really tricky to locate a vein on some people, especially if they are dehydrated (and this inmate might know this). A competent person with medical training and experience can always find a vein, but I would conjecture the prison system hires barely qualified folks for this job.
Are medical doctors actually allowed to be prison executioners?
I think it violates their code of ethics and they might lose their license. I guess the prison could hire a doctor or nurse who already lost their license for other reasons.
Whole thing is a shit show.
As someone who’s been stuck several times before the person with medical training taps in the next person, who also needs several tries, it is not my experience that you can always find a vein (unless I’m just really unlucky and the hospital employs a lot of incompetent people). Sometimes a nurse can get blood out on the first try, but sometimes they’re sticking both arms and moving onto my hands and I end up with two arms covered in bruises the next day. Sometimes they go get a pediatric needle and that helps. Last time, we called in the “IV Team” who used an ultrasound to place my IV. Some of us just have difficult veins.
There are plenty of reasons that your veins may not be suitable, and it can be as simple as dehydration.
They don’t give these people any training. Sticking someone, especially if they have scarred veins or are dehydrated, is difficult. Doubly so if you have no idea what the fuck you’re doing
Went to the ER one time with severe sinus pain. Nurses spent 30 minutes trying to insert an iv. They used an ultrasound machine and everything. I was so fucking miserable, my mom begged them to just stop. All I needed was some steroids and to go home. I was probably dehydrated from being there, and I’m hard to stick anyway.
Well, the type of drugs used for lethal injections can’t be done like vaccines and the technique needs a level of skill to actually get the vein. They obviously chose someone who was unskilled.
Poor health and maybe even dehydration of the prisoner to be executed can make veins inaccessible. It took a considerable number of sticks to get my IV in for a colonoscopy because the preparation left me dehydrated.
It does happen (I mean, not even talking about lethal injection). People do miss veins.
Eight times seems kind of overkill, though.