Reviewing the lethal injection scrummages

The Baltimore Sun has this effective article reviewing all the litigation and uncertainty surrounding lethal injection protocols and this companion piece detailing the state of litigation in a number of states.

Some recent related posts:

• Should executions be more public?
• A medical perspective on the lethal injection mess
• Should part of the machinery of death be dyslexic?
• Back to the lethal injection scrummages
• The intriguing next chapter in the lethal injection saga
• Oklahoma ruling on lethal injection's constitutionality
• On the other side of the Hill

UPDATE: The Kansas City Star has this effective piece discussing Missouri's lethal injection struggles.  Here are some notable aspects of the interesting article:

The state of Missouri has its marching orders, but the road back to its execution chamber is blocked by a daunting obstacle — medical ethics.  Missouri corrections officials have been unable to find an anesthesiologist willing to help put the state's condemned prisoners to death.  Until they do, they cannot comply with a federal judge's June 26 order that stopped all executions in the state....

Director Larry Crawford said the Corrections Department was working to comply with the judge's order [to improve the lethal injection protocol].  "We are continuing to look for a person or persons who would be willing to be there (when an execution occurs)," he said....

Last week the department mailed letters to nearly 300 anesthesiologists in Missouri and Illinois, and it has contacted other states to see whether any others use anesthesiologists in their executions. So far, no state has responded that it is using one, a department spokesman said.