Death penalty states hoarding drugs needed to ventilate COVID-19 patients

The FDA added two more drugs needed to put patients on ventilators to its shortages list as death penalty states across the country stockpile those drugs for lethal injections, The Guardian reported.

The drugs added to the shortages list are propofol and dexmedetomidine, both sedatives used to ventilate patients.

Capital punishment states stockpile sedatives and paralytics used for executions.

A group of medical providers, including anesthesiologists and pharmacists, sent a letter to capital punishment states April 13 asking them to release the stockpiles, as those drugs could save hundreds of COVID-19 patients. The letter states that hospitals are facing desperate shortages of drugs needed to put patients on ventilators.

Nineteen out of 28 death penalty states use midazolam, vecuronium bromide, rocuronium bromide and fentanyl for executions, all of which are listed as being in short supply in hospitals, The Guardian reported.

Florida, Nevada and Tennessee have all said they are stockpiling large quantities of the drugs for executions, according to The Guardian. Florida alone has 20,000mg of rocuronium bromide, which can be used to intubate about 100 COVID-19 patients, the medical experts wrote.

Read the full article here.

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