Casea | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Drugs used | Benzodiazepine (IV in 1 dosage) + barbiturate (IV continuous) + narcotic antagonist (IV continuous) | Barbiturate (SCC) + neuromuscular relaxant (IV continuous) | Barbiturate (IV 1 dosage) + neuromuscular relaxant (IV 1 dosage) | Benzodiazepine (IV 1 dosage) + barbiturate (IV 1 dosage) + neuromuscular relaxant (IV 1 dosage) | Opioid (SCC) + benzodiazepine (SCC) + barbiturateb (IV 1 dosage) | Barbiturate (IV 1 dosage) + neuromuscular relaxant (IV 1 dosage) | Opioid (TD continuous) + opioid (IV with intervals) + barbiturate (IV continuous) | Opioid (SC with intervals) + benzodiazepine (SC with intervals) | Phenothiazine (PO 1 dosage) + opioid (TD continuous) + opioid (SCC) |
Person who administered the last drug | Physician | Physician | Physician | Physician | Physician | Physician | Nurse | Physician | Physician, nurse, and family together |
Time between administration first drug and death | 8 minutes | 3 minutes | 1 minute | 1 minute | 5 seconds | 5 seconds | 3 days | 24 hours | 48 hours |
Reported technical problems during performance | None | None | None | None | Problem finding a vein in which to inject the drug | None | None | None | Patient had woken up between administration of two drugs |
Estimated life-shortening effect of the euthanasia | 1–6 months | 1–4 weeks | 1–7 days | 1–4 weeks | 1–4 weeks | 1–6 months | 1–7 days | 1–4 weeks | 1–7 days |
↵a Same case order as in Table 2.
↵b The first drug to bring about death is in this case considered to be the barbiturate, as the other drugs were used to perform terminal sedation. The barbiturate was administered after the patient had been terminally sedated for 10 days. The patient died 5 days after the administration of the barbiturate. IV = intravenous. PO = oral. SC = subcutaneous. SCC = subcutaneous continuous.TD = transdermal.