Death Drugs – A Compounding Pharmacist’s Dilemma

Prescott C. Ensign; Jonathan Fast

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Death Drugs – A Compounding Pharmacist’s Dilemma

Prescott C. Ensign

Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada

Jonathan Fast

McGill University, Canada

Volume 16: 2019 pp. 247-266: ABSTRACT

Dr. Garrett Johnson received a call from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice asking if he would be interested in filling prescriptions for pentobarbital. Suddenly he faced a controversial issue - providing a drug used for the lethal injection of convicted criminals. Apparently big pharma was discontinuing the manufacture and sale of drugs used for human executions - primarily due to mounting pressure from death penalty activists and shareholders, legal appeals by inmates, media reports of botched lethal injections, etc. Texas saw the solution by using small local compounding pharmacies that were less visible to the public. Should Garrett fill this lucrative order knowing how the State would use the drugs? The case presents the ethical and strategic issues that Garrett faces - having just graduated and started his own compounding pharmacy - in making this decision.