Pharmacology profs call drug in Ohio execution ‘unsuitable’

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Fifteen pharmacology professors are arguing to stop the impending execution of a condemned Ohio killer on grounds that a sedative being used is incapable of inducing unconsciousness or preventing severe pain.

In a brief filed at the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, the professors called the record on the sedative midazolam (mih-DAY’-zoh-lam) “profoundly troubling” and said it’s “unsuitable” as an execution drug.

Their filing comes as Ohio prepares to resume executions after a more than three-year hiatus.

Ronald Phillips is scheduled to die Wednesday for the 1993 rape and killing of his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter in Akron.

Phillips and two other inmates have asked the high court for stays as they appeal Ohio’s lethal injection method. Phillips is also pursuing a separate age-related stay.