USA - Virginia. Executioners are illegally practicing medicine, pharmacy and anesthesiology without licenses, two lawyers claim

Virginia executioners are illegally practicing medicine, pharmacy and anesthesiology without licenses, two lawyers claim in a complaint filed today. Attorneys Meghan Shapiro and Christopher Leibig asked the Richmond Circuit Court for an injunction halting the allegedly unauthorized practices. The complaint says corrections officers are not checking to ensure that prisoners are properly anesthetized and unconscious before administering 2 lethal drugs: 1 that causes asphyxiation and another that stops the heart "with excruciating pain that has been likened to the feeling of having one's veins set on fire." Virginia Department of Corrections spokesman Larry Traylor said prison officials had not seen the complaint and would not comment on pending litigation. The complaint names the department's director, its pharmacy supervisor and unnamed execution team leaders as defendants. By law, the executioners' names are secret. But Shapiro said depositions of unnamed witnesses and other discovery materials in federal lawsuits show that the drugs, available only by prescription, are not being administered by licensed medical professionals. Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said he is aware of no other challenge that has claimed executioners are violating medical licensing laws and regulations. No executions are scheduled at this time in Virginia, which has executed more people than any state except Texas since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.