Lethal Dose of Heart Drug Given to Hospital Patient

A lethal dose of the drug often used to execute criminals by injection was accidentally administered to a 61-year-old hospital patient who died, hospital officials said Thursday.

John Ose died Tuesday shortly after receiving the concentrated dose of potassium chloride, a drug that in a more diluted form is used medically to slow a rapid heart beat. Ose, who was a patient at the hospital suffering from an undisclosed ailment, was given the lethal dose through an intravenous drip in his arm.