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120 cc of a strong potassium chloride solution.

According to University of Massachusetts anesthesiologist Mark Dershwitz, who testified in the Johnston case, a five-gram dose of sodium pentothal is ten to fifteen times greater than the average surgical dose. "By the time all five grams of [sodium pentothal] solution are injected, it is my [opinion], to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, that over 99.99999999 percent of the population would be unconscious [during the remainder of the lethal injection procedure]," Dershwitz states in an affidavit.

During testimony in open court, Dershwitz also stated that Missouri utilizes "a board certified surgeon and a licensed practical nurse" to mix the sodium pentothal and set the IV line. "A [needle is] placed into the femoral vein," Dershwitz testified, referring to a thumb-diameter vein that transports blood from the leg to the heart. "[A] wire is inserted through the needle and the needle is withdrawn.... Once the wire is inserted into the femoral vein then the catheter is inserted over the wire.... Once the catheter is inserted over the wire into the vein, the hole that was created is actually sealed. And then the catheter is typically sutured in place to make it secure and a bandage is applied over the insertion site and the procedure is done."

Little is known of lethal-injection protocols nationwide, but physician involvement has come to light in a handful of cases. In 1990, for instance, three doctors participated in an execution in Illinois by establishing the intravenous opening, monitoring the inmate and pronouncing him dead. Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher, himself a doctor, faced calls for the revocation of his medical license last year when he signed a death warrant for inmate Thomas Clyde Bowling.

Deborah Denno, a Fordham University law professor who has undertaken several studies that compare states' execution protocols, says Missouri's specification of the femoral vein is notable. "States generally just talk about providing intravenous access and injecting; they don't say where," says Denno, a lethal-injection opponent. "States generally provide very little information, but there's a tremendous amount of variability among procedures. You have some states that are doing it with far more protections than others. We're really talking about multiple lethal-injection procedures."

According to Dershwitz's testimony in the Johnston trial, the federal government is the only other jurisdiction that specifies use of the femoral vein.

Attorneys for the state recently filed a motion to dismiss the pending suit, claiming that the issues it raises should have been included in the appeals process. The motion argues that a finding in the inmates' favor would "result in their executions being delayed indefinitely."

Court documents provide tantalizing hints about the identity of the doctor and nurse who take part in Missouri executions. Filings in the current case reveal that the doctor is a board-certified surgeon. Records in Johnston's case, meanwhile, reveal that he has mixed sodium pentothal "approximately 1,000 times, and has placed an IV in central lines 20,000 to 30,000 times."

Dr. Jonathan Groner, medical director for trauma at Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, testified in the Johnston trial. "It's a big mystery," Groner says of the description. "Someone whose specialty was dialysis patients could do a lot of central lines [in the femoral vein], but I don't know if you could get up to twenty or thirty thousand. It seems more likely that he's an anesthesiologist, but the documents claim that he's a board-certified surgeon."

In objecting to releasing the names, the state argues in the present case that "if the persons involved are identified, this could well lead to them being targeted for harassment or even physical retaliation by offenders, their families, their friends, or others opposed to the death penalty."

Likewise, Missouri Department of Corrections spokesman John Fougere declines to identify the medical personnel. "We don't release that for security and safety reasons," says Fougere. "If the identities of the people were released, then those people would probably be less likely to want to volunteer to help on that particular process, but also there's the issue of their safety."

The plaintiffs' attorneys have countered passionately in court filings: "If death-penalty opponents were going to tamper with anyone, it would not be with the miscreant on the other end of the needle, but with the Governor who denied clemency, the judges who denied relief and in fact set the execution date, or the prosecutor who sought the death penalty.... If we were to follow the defendants' logic, we would need to have an anonymous Governor and an anonymous Missouri Supreme Court.... If the defendants' board-certified surgeon does not feel welcome at the country club or at medical society meetings or at other physician's cocktail parties because he uses his professional skills in support of trailer-park politics, he or she knew that going in."

Taylor's attorney, John Simon, adds that as long as the names are concealed, the competence of the medical personnel remains a mystery. "We have been denied any information about this person," says Simon. "For all we know, this person is a rogue who does nothing but participate in executions secretly."