Opinion ID: 1230319
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Failure to provide for tactile monitoring of the IV lines

Text: Third, the district court held that Tennessee's amended protocol failed to provide procedures for adequately monitoring the administration of drugs. Harbison, 511 F.Supp.2d at 892. The court noted that the IV lines were only monitored visually, by looking through a one-way window and by looking at a video screen in the executioner's room. Id. at 891. An expert opined that monitoring the IV lines by touching or palpating the insertion site would be far more effective in preventing potential problems. Id. at 891-92. Based on this testimony, the district court concluded that the sole use of visual monitoring increased the prisoner's risk of unnecessary pain. Id. at 892. Once again, Baze compels a different conclusion. While the plaintiffs in that case raised concerns about the adequate monitoring of IV lines, the Court did not find the risk to rise to the level of a constitutional violation because the warden and deputy warden were in the execution room with the prisoner to visually monitor for signs of any problems. Baze, 128 S.Ct. at 1534. Medical experts in Baze testified that identifying signs of possible infiltration occurring at the IV site would be very obvious to the average person because of the swelling that would result. Id. Similarly, Tennessee's amended protocol requires the warden to be in the execution room in order to guard against problems, and the IV line also is monitored visually by other execution team members by video camera and through a one-way window. Harbison, 511 F.Supp.2d at 892.