why the complex series of injections for execution?

[bignateyk]

CNN article on lethal injection:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/...njection.ap/index.html

It got me thinking (I really don't know the science behind lethal injections), but why do they have to use such a complex method of killing someone?

Why can't they just use anesthesia that is used in all major surgeries, except use a bigger dosage (to be 100% sure the person is out)? Then when the person is out, just lop their head off or electrocute them or suffocate them or something..? It seems like that would be far easier, cheaper, and less likely to cause any pain to the inmate...

The only thing people could worry about is not being knocked out after the gas, but why even calculate how much you need? Just use enough gas to knock out an elephant... it's not like the stuff is expensive or that you have to worry about using too much.

 

[Saulbadguy]

It would be messier to lop their head off, me thinks.

 

[tefleming]

From the Wikipedia article:

1. Sodium thiopental: to render the offender unconscious.
2. Pancuronium/Tubocurarine: to stop all muscle movement except the heart. This causes muscle paralysis, collapse of the diaphragm, and would eventually cause death by asphyxiation.
3. Potassium chloride: stops the heart, and thus causes death: see cardiac arrest.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lethal_Injection

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: bignateyk
..why do they have to use such a complex method of killing someone?

due to lawsuits claiming it is cruel/unusual punishment
they are trying to put the body through the least painful/traumatic steps possible on the way to death

pretty ludicrous when most of the criminals being put to death have put their victims through things much more cruel/unusual/painful

 

[jfall]

better question, why do they sterilize the needles

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
pretty ludicrous when most of the criminals being put to death have put their victums through things much more cruel/unusual/painful

The state doesn't need to lower itself to the level of criminals

 

[bignateyk]

Originally posted by: tefleming
From the Wikipedia article:

1. Sodium thiopental: to render the offender unconscious.
2. Pancuronium/Tubocurarine: to stop all muscle movement except the heart. This causes muscle paralysis, collapse of the diaphragm, and would eventually cause death by asphyxiation.
3. Potassium chloride: stops the heart, and thus causes death: see cardiac arrest.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lethal_Injection

Is sodium thiopental an injection? Why not just add a step before all that where they use a huge dosage of anesthesia to be 100% sure the person is knocked out?

 

[MmmSkyscraper]

Originally posted by: jfall
better question, why do they sterilize the needles

So the guy doing the injections doesn't catch anything if he FUBAR's and stabs himself?

 

[bignateyk]

I guess what i'm getting at is that it seems like the issue people have is that the inmate might not be unconscious, but merely paralized after the first step. But why is this even a problem? Why not just use a huge dosage of whatever they are using to render the individual unconscious? It seems like they are trying to calculate it and use "just enough" to get it done...

 

[mcvickj]

Originally posted by: jfall
better question, why do they sterilize the needles

According to the Wikipedia article.

The IV's are standard medical products that are sterilized during manufacture.
Prisoner could receive a stay of execution.
Hazard to prison personnel to handle unsterilized equipment.

 

[PottedMeat]

Why not just carbon monoxide?

 

[bignateyk]

Originally posted by: PottedMeat
Why not just carbon monoxide?

Exactly. It really just doesn't seem like it should be so complicated. I can think of at least 10 ways to kill someone that would be easy, cheap, and pain free.

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: bignateyk

Originally posted by: PottedMeat
Why not just carbon monoxide?

Exactly. It really just doesn't seem like it should be so complicated. I can think of at least 10 ways to kill someone that would be easy, cheap, and pain free.

that is cruel/unusual punishment
you could just stuff them in a burlap bag with some bricks and toss them into a pond or the ocean too

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

I have always wondered this myself. By far the most "humane" form is the firing squad. It is relatively quick, relatively painless, and always lethal within seconds. All the other forms fail at one of these:

Hanging - Neck does not always break, slow, very painful way to die
Electric chair - not all that quick, the time to death varies
Gas chamber - slow, painful, time to death varies
Lethal injection - slow, probably extremely painful, time to death is consistent

 

[bignateyk]

Originally posted by: FoBoT

Originally posted by: bignateyk

Originally posted by: PottedMeat
Why not just carbon monoxide?

Exactly. It really just doesn't seem like it should be so complicated. I can think of at least 10 ways to kill someone that would be easy, cheap, and pain free.

that is cruel/unusual punishment
you could just stuff them in a burlap bag with some bricks and toss them into a pond or the ocean too

How would using carbon monoxide be cruel and unusual? How about using anesthesia, and then carbon monoxide?

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: bignateyk

Originally posted by: FoBoT

Originally posted by: bignateyk

Originally posted by: PottedMeat
Why not just carbon monoxide?

Exactly. It really just doesn't seem like it should be so complicated. I can think of at least 10 ways to kill someone that would be easy, cheap, and pain free.

that is cruel/unusual punishment
you could just stuff them in a burlap bag with some bricks and toss them into a pond or the ocean too

How would using carbon monoxide be cruel and unusual? How about using anesthesia, and then carbon monoxide?

ask the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cas73.htm

In short, we hold that the district court's extensive factual findings
concerning the level of pain suffered by an inmate during execution by
lethal gas are not clearly erroneous. The district court's findings of
extreme pain, the length of time this extreme pain lasts, and the
substantial risk that inmates will suffer this extreme pain for several
minutes require the conclusion that execution by lethal gas is cruel and
unusual. Accordingly, we conclude that execution by lethal gas under the
California protocol is unconstitutionally cruel and unusual and violates
the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. The district court's permanent
injunction against defendants is AFFIRMED.

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: FoBoT

Originally posted by: bignateyk

Originally posted by: PottedMeat
Why not just carbon monoxide?

Exactly. It really just doesn't seem like it should be so complicated. I can think of at least 10 ways to kill someone that would be easy, cheap, and pain free.

that is cruel/unusual punishment
you could just stuff them in a burlap bag with some bricks and toss them into a pond or the ocean too

ether on a rag, bullet right between the eyes...

course then again I think the punishment should fit the crime and they should not suffer a painfree death

 

[bignateyk]

Originally posted by: FoBoT

Originally posted by: bignateyk

Originally posted by: FoBoT

Originally posted by: bignateyk

Originally posted by: PottedMeat
Why not just carbon monoxide?

Exactly. It really just doesn't seem like it should be so complicated. I can think of at least 10 ways to kill someone that would be easy, cheap, and pain free.

that is cruel/unusual punishment
you could just stuff them in a burlap bag with some bricks and toss them into a pond or the ocean too

How would using carbon monoxide be cruel and unusual? How about using anesthesia, and then carbon monoxide?

ask the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cas73.htm

In short, we hold that the district court's extensive factual findings
concerning the level of pain suffered by an inmate during execution by
lethal gas are not clearly erroneous. The district court's findings of
extreme pain, the length of time this extreme pain lasts, and the
substantial risk that inmates will suffer this extreme pain for several
minutes require the conclusion that execution by lethal gas is cruel and
unusual. Accordingly, we conclude that execution by lethal gas under the
California protocol is unconstitutionally cruel and unusual and violates
the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. The district court's permanent
injunction against defendants is AFFIRMED.

What exactly is "lethal gas"? Any gas that can kill someone? If you use enough anesthesia by itself you will kill someone, and there sure as hell isn't any pain...

My cousin and uncle died of carbon monoxide while they slept, and they looked as peaceful as can be when they were found. I seriously question a report that says carbon monoxide poisoning is painfull...

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: FoBoT

Originally posted by: bignateyk

Originally posted by: FoBoT

Originally posted by: bignateyk

Originally posted by: PottedMeat
Why not just carbon monoxide?

Exactly. It really just doesn't seem like it should be so complicated. I can think of at least 10 ways to kill someone that would be easy, cheap, and pain free.

that is cruel/unusual punishment
you could just stuff them in a burlap bag with some bricks and toss them into a pond or the ocean too

How would using carbon monoxide be cruel and unusual? How about using anesthesia, and then carbon monoxide?

ask the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cas73.htm

In short, we hold that the district court's extensive factual findings
concerning the level of pain suffered by an inmate during execution by
lethal gas are not clearly erroneous. The district court's findings of
extreme pain, the length of time this extreme pain lasts, and the
substantial risk that inmates will suffer this extreme pain for several
minutes require the conclusion that execution by lethal gas is cruel and
unusual. Accordingly, we conclude that execution by lethal gas under the
California protocol is unconstitutionally cruel and unusual and violates
the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. The district court's permanent
injunction against defendants is AFFIRMED.

LOL the 9th Circuit....what abunch of nutballs. I guess this is one of the few things that it did pass that did not get overridden by a higher court.

 

[nakedfrog]

Guillotine FTW!

 

[IceBergSLiM]

why don't they just use like uncut heroin or something. One second they are bouncing around in candyland the next they are dead.

 

[Alistar7]

Originally posted by: FoBoT

Originally posted by: bignateyk

Originally posted by: PottedMeat
Why not just carbon monoxide?

Exactly. It really just doesn't seem like it should be so complicated. I can think of at least 10 ways to kill someone that would be easy, cheap, and pain free.

that is cruel/unusual punishment
you could just stuff them in a burlap bag with some bricks and toss them into a pond or the ocean too

I'm fine with that, as long as we get a good deal on the bricks/bags. They say death by fire is the worst way to die, while drowning is the most pleasant. I'm not exactly sure who they are asking, but if true drowning hardly seems cruel.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: FoBoT

Originally posted by: bignateyk

Originally posted by: PottedMeat
Why not just carbon monoxide?

Exactly. It really just doesn't seem like it should be so complicated. I can think of at least 10 ways to kill someone that would be easy, cheap, and pain free.

that is cruel/unusual punishment
you could just stuff them in a burlap bag with some bricks and toss them into a pond or the ocean too

exactly

 

[Jhill]

They should let the inmate do it him/herself by picking one of these.

 

[bignateyk]

Originally posted by: Alistar7

Originally posted by: FoBoT

Originally posted by: bignateyk

Originally posted by: PottedMeat
Why not just carbon monoxide?

Exactly. It really just doesn't seem like it should be so complicated. I can think of at least 10 ways to kill someone that would be easy, cheap, and pain free.

that is cruel/unusual punishment
you could just stuff them in a burlap bag with some bricks and toss them into a pond or the ocean too

I'm fine with that, as long as we get a good deal on the bricks/bags. They say death by fire is the worst way to die, while drowning is the most pleasant. I'm not exactly sure who they are asking, but if true drowning hardly seems cruel.

I dont see drowning being very pleasant... I would take carbon monoxide if I had a choice. Drowning you would have those few seconds where you had to finally succumb and breathe in the water, which I would imagine would be pretty unpleasant...