Lawyers on behalf of six death row inmates filed a lawsuit against the Department of Corrections on lethal injections. They are seeking information about the drugs used and the qualifications of the executioners.
One of the filing attorneys, Dale Baich, said based on records from autopsies and the Department of Corrections, 10 of the last 14 executions have been injected through the femoral vein in the upper thigh. Baich isn’t so much questioning the procedure as much as the qualifications of the people preforming it.
“If a femoral line is set properly and the doctor is qualified to do it, it should work well," Baich said. "But what we have seen in Arizona is that in a number of cases the doctor was not able to properly set the femoral line.”
The lawsuit is also challenging the combination of drugs used in the injection and claims that by refusing to release information about the manufacturer the state is violating inmates’ constitutional rights. The next prisoner is scheduled to be executed July 23.