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Report says IV difficulties behind botched Oklahoma execution

An autopsy confirmed Clayton Lockett died from execution drugs and not from a heart attack, but many consider it botched nonetheless because it took 43 minutes ...
Clayton Lockett Mug

(CNN) — Complications with the placement of an IV into a vein of death row inmate Clayton Lockett played a significant role in his botched execution, according to a report by the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety.

Lockett was executed by the state of Oklahoma on April 29 in a lethal injection protocol that was beset with complications.

Related:  Oklahoma execution goes horribly wrong

An autopsy confirmed that Lockett died from the execution drugs and not from a heart attack, but many consider it botched nonetheless because it took 43 minutes for him to die.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin ordered an investigation into the execution, which thrust the debate over capital punishment back into the spotlight.

The report was released Thursday, September 4, 2014.

One factor that led to the complications was the difficulty the doctor and paramedics in the execution chamber had in placing the IV that would deliver the execution drugs into Lockett’s veins.

It took 51 minutes and attempts in different parts of his body before the doctor felt comfortable with the IV placed in Lockett’s right groin area, the report said. For placement there, the doctor told investigators he would have preferred a longer needle, but the size he wanted was not available, so he used what was available.

Because Lockett’s groin area was exposed to place the IV, Warden Anita Trammell decided to cover up the exposed area with a blanket to protect the inmate’s dignity, the report said.

As a consequence, the place where the IV was inserted was covered up and not visible to the doctor.

It wasn’t until the second and third drugs of the execution cocktail were being administered that the doctor saw something was wrong, the report said.

“Lockett began to move and make sounds on the execution table,” the report states. “It should be noted that the interview statements of the witnesses regarding Lockett’s movements and sounds were inconsistent.”

Lifting the blanket, those in the execution chamber observed clear liquid and blood on Lockett’s skin near the groin area, and swelling under the skin that was “smaller than a tennis ball but larger than a golf ball,” the report states.

If the doctor would have been able to see the point where the IV was inserted, the problem could have been identified sooner, according to the report.

At that point, according to the report, the doctor was unsure how much of each drug made it into the vein, or whether it was enough to result in death.

The doctor tried to insert the IV in the other femoral artery, without success. Another failure noted in the report was that even if another vein was used, there was not a backup supply of execution drugs if indeed an insufficient amount had been injected the first time.

The report notes that as the team struggled with these complications, Lockett’s heartbeat continued to lower.

The execution was halted, but Lockett died anyway.

The investigation found that there were some minor deviations from the required protocol during the execution, but that those did not contribute to the complications.

“This investigation concluded the viability of the IV access point was the single greatest factor that contributed to the difficulty in administering the execution drugs,” the report states.

Among the reports recommendations was to make the IV insertion point visible to the doctor at all times and to alert the governor’s office if it takes more than one hour to insert the IV.

CNN’s Carma Hassan contributed to this report.

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