Ohio lawmakers narrow lethal-injection bill

COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio lawmakers today removed a measure from a death-penalty bill that doctors and drugmakers warned could have led to shortages of a key drug and set anesthesiology back 20 years.

At issue was a requirement that would have told drugmakers they couldn't restrict distribution of drugs that could be used in executions. Opponents of the requirement expected the European Union would quickly ban the export of the anesthetic propofol to the U.S. if Ohio's bill became law.

Europe supplies almost 90 percent of propofol used in the U.S. and no similar drug shares its safety and effectiveness, Dr. Robert Small, an anesthesiologist representing the Ohio Society of Anesthesiologists, told the Civil Justice Committee.

"A shortage of this medicine would set the medical specialty of anesthesiology back 20 years," he said, leading to complications from an increased rate of nausea and vomiting after surgery along with extended time to wake up from surgery.

The president of a company whose drugs include propofol said the restriction would have a "cascading effect" that would harm patients and their families in Ohio.