The lethal cocktail of intravenous drugs given to Tennessee death row inmates to kill them is the subject of a new court challenge. At a court hearing Thursday, Lawyers for Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman argued that the combination of successive injections of sodium pentothal, Pavulon and potassium chloride, is a flawed process that can result in a tortuous execution, amounting to cruel and inhumane treatment.

The drug under attack is Pavulon, which paralyzes the recipient's muscles so that he cannot respond.

University of Tennessee veterinarian, Dr. Dennis Geiser, testified that Pavulon is not fit for use in putting down a household pet.

....[He] described how Pavulon makes it impossible to tell whether an animal is, in fact, conscious or unconscious and therefore is not approved for use by Tennessee veterinarians for euthanizing domesticated animals.

The drugs are administered in this order: sodium pentothal, then Pavulon to stop the breathing and finally potassium chloride to stop the heart.

Another expert testified that Pavulon is unnecessary in the execution process. A woman who received the drug during an operation testified:

...about what it is like to be paralyzed while surgeons — who wrongly assumed she was unconscious — operated on her eye. Carol Wiehrer described the scorching pain and experience of being awake at her own operation as ''worse than death.'' She was not able to tell the doctors that she was awake.

An expert anaesthesiologist testified that:

...he became intrigued by the lethal-injection protocol when convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was put to death. Heath said he thought then it was odd to use Pavulon and was alarmed when witnesses reported that McVeigh's eyes began tearing during the execution, a ''hallmark sign'' that he was either conscious or under light anesthesia — and not unconscious as expected.

Surely there must be a better way--we suggest choosing life.