BOISE, Idaho– Idaho will start using central veins deep in the groin, neck, chest or arm to execute prisoners lethal injection If attempts to insert standard IV lines fail, the Idaho Department of Correction announced Tuesday.
Injecting a central venous line has long been a backup plan under official state execution policy, but it has never been used because prison officials said the execution chamber was not designed in a way that protected the inmate’s dignity during the process of inserting the line.
In February, the execution attempt of Thomas Eugene Creech, a man on death row, failed after the execution team failed to establish a peripheral IV line despite eight attempts in various veins in his arms and legs. Creech’s attorneys have tried to prevent a second attempt on the grounds that it would amount to cruel and unusual punishment and double jeopardy. A state judge rejected those arguments in September.
The failed execution attempt prompted the state to renovate the execution chamber and add a room where a doctor can insert a central venous line.
Many states, including Texas and Oklahoma, do not allow witnesses to executions to see the insertion of IVs or central venous catheters, with the procedures performed in areas hidden from view. In Idaho, the process of setting up an IV line or central venous catheter must be publicly witnessed because the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that it is a crucial part of an execution. The federal appeals court made the ruling after The Associated Press and other news organizations in the state sued for greater access to witnesses.
Under Idaho’s new execution policy, media witnesses and others selected to witness the execution can watch the line insertion through a closed-circuit camera system as it takes place in a separate room. Once the central line is inserted, the convicted person is taken to the main part of the execution chamber, where witnesses can watch the remainder of the trial through a window.
Standard peripheral IV lines are fairly easy to establish and usually only require a needle stick into a vein close to the skin surface of the arm or hand. Emergency medical technicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals routinely insert standard IVs.
Central venous catheters often require short surgical procedures to access very large blood vessels, such as the jugular vein or femoral vein. They should be done by a doctor because the veins are often very close to arteries that are under higher internal pressure – increasing the risk of bleeding from accidental needle sticks – and near other organs such as lungs that can collapse if they are accidentally punctured.