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Doctor: Lines placed correctly in Arizona inmate

FILE - In this undated file photo provided by the Arizona Department of Corrections, an unidentified Arizona Corrections Officer adjusts the straps on the gurney used for lethal injections at the Arizona State Prison at Florence, Ariz. The prolonged execution this week of an Arizona death row inmate with a new, two-drug combination highlights the patchwork approach states have been forced to take with lethal injection drugs, with the types, combinations and dosages varying widely. (AP Photo/Arizona Department of Corrections) FILE - In this undated file photo provided by the Arizona Department of Corrections, an unidentified Arizona Corrections Officer adjusts the straps on the gurney used for lethal injections at the Arizona State Prison at Florence, Ariz. The prolonged execution this week of an Arizona death row inmate with a new, two-drug combination highlights the patchwork approach states have been forced to take with lethal injection drugs, with the types, combinations and dosages varying widely. (AP Photo/Arizona Department of Corrections)

By Associated Press July 28, 2014 1 min read

PHOENIX (AP) – The doctor who performed the autopsy on an Arizona death-row inmate whose execution was prolonged says the intravenous lines were placed correctly.

Incorrect placement of lines can inject drugs into soft tissue instead of the blood stream, but Dr. Gregory Hess of the Pima County Medical Examiner’s Office says the drugs went into Joseph Wood’s veins.

Wood on Wednesday gasped and snorted more than 600 times over more than an hour and a half before he was pronounced dead.

Hess told the Arizona Capitol Times ( http://bit.ly/1thLaFe ) on Friday that he is waiting for the toxicology report before determining the cause of death.

But he says he’ll certify the outcome as death by lethal injection if there’s nothing unusual about the drugs in Wood’s system.