It the article we get not only that headline but also the first 5 paragraphs about how the shortage affects executions in these United States.
Then we get this quote:
'“I’ve been practicing for 25 years and have never seen anything like the frequency and variety of drugs that are in short supply,” said Dr. Alexander A. Hannenberg of Newton, Mass., the president of American Society of Anesthesiologists.'
Then we get 3 more paragraphs about the impact on executions.
Then we get this graph:
'Several anesthesiologists, including Dr. Hannenberg, said they had not yet heard about medical procedures being delayed because of the shortages. But he said it was nearly universal that anesthesiologists were being forced to use less familiar medications that leave patients groggier and with a higher risk of nausea and headaches.
“I have a huge concern,” said Dr. J. P. Abenstein, an associate professor of anesthesiology at the Mayo Clinic School of Medicine in Rochester, Minn., “because we’re having to alter the anesthetics not for the needs of the patient but because of what’s available in the marketplace.”'
Y'know I can almost remember the time when pharmacology's primary focus (raison d'etre?) was on alleviating illness. But we have gotten ourselves to such a place as a nation that it is more newsworthy that the too-many-dozens of executions - and one state sponsored murder is too many - we perform each year are in jeopardy because of delay than the fact the stuff isn't available for the therapeutic purpose for which it was supposedly developed.
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