Untried and unethical: why Nevada's new lethal injection crosses a line

As more drug companies prevent sales of their products for execution, some US states have seized on new, untried drug combinations - raising big ethical issues

Today, Scott Raymond Dozier was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection in Nevada's Ely State Prison. However, the execution has been postponed over concerns around the untested drug combination proposed as the method of death. The postponement is the latest incident in a series of controversial state executions carried out in the United States this year, and brings to the foreground many concerns and ethical issues around state execution - not least the use of the death penalty itself.

In Dozier's case, a completely new three drug combination has been proposed for Dozier's execution. The mixture of diazepam (a sedative), cisatracurium (a muscle relaxant), and fentanyl (a powerful pain-relieving opioid) has raised many concerns - principally because it is completely untried.