I'm pro-death penalty personally, but at least I'm not comfortable about it (especially the racial aspects). I'm also uncomfortable about the historically recent medical-ization of the death penalty. I like the idea of a reusable rope, or maybe 5 .308 cartridges & a blank, better than a cocktail of untestable drugs that require timing & skill to work properly & humanely. In the case of screw-ups, the new drug cocktail is probably one of the LEAST humane ways to kill someone. If you're "for" torturing killers to death then be honest about it. I'm increasingly uncomfortable with being dishonest about the issue, as the system is currently. Also, the involvement of actual doctors entails taxpayer expense and invokes the Hippocratic Oath.

But (and this is the part that's really gonna piss people off) the state already knows exactly how a single, unskilled, non-cocktail injection can be both quite lethal and quite humane. The same state confiscates a lot of the substance in question, so there'd be no cost to taxpayers. It's called "heroin," and administering enough of it is guaranteed to humanely & quickly kill anyone who needs killing. It can even be injected by someone as dimwitted as a FL prison guard (sorry, but one of 'em replaced natural sponges with plastic ones in "Old Sparky," and I'm still mentally reeling over just how public-education-stupid that move was!). The only "risk" of the heroin overdose method is that a person who's set to die anyway might experience one brief moment of opiate-induced pleasure before he dies. I'm willing to take that risk.
JMR

The tax & spend drug war looks racist in the real world.

Writing from CA myself, I'd definitely agree that Stout was mocking the practice of lethat injection. It's de rigeur to slam any death perpatrated by the state as evil while ignoring the inhuman acts of thugs, thieves and perverts.

I think it's probably a fairly safe bet that Mr. Stout has insulated himself within a nice liberal cocoon that prevents him from knowing all sorts of things.

"All that is necessary for the trimuph of evil is that good men do nothing."

- Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797)

www.conservativeboot...

J ust shoot them in the face and be done with it. All this 'humane' crap is nonsense. If lethal injection is trying to be tossed out now, then the courts have a LOT of explaining to do for everyone who's had to 'put down' a pet. Those pets lives were FAR more valuable and contributing that the waste that are in prison with cable TV and McDonalds food. There is FAR FAR too much concern for these individuals who have committed unthinkable crimes.

"To beat Violence, You must ignore the focus groups. You must send in the Mossad, turn off the BBC, CNN, and don't look back."

If you follow Mirriam-Webster "humane" means "marked by compassion, sympathy, or consideration for humans or animals". As an execution is neither compassionate nor sympathetic to the delinquent the quote marks are quite right. It is an euphemism.

The three drug "cocktail" used for execution is a well known entity to physicians, pharmacologists and scientists.  The effects of the three drugs are predictable and well studied.  It is easy to build in  safety margins such that if things do not go expressly as desired, then alternate procedures could be utilized to finish the procedure.

1. Sodium Thiopental - first drug given to induce sleep and works in less than a minute.  This drug is given around the world in the induction aneasthesia for operations.  It has a very short duration of effect, about 5-10 minutes, unless more is given.  A megadose of Thiopental or a longer acting sleeper could be given if one worries about time.  It could be used alone to euthanize someone but would take many minutes.

2. Pancuronium Bromide - second drug given to paralyze the muscles, though not the heart.  Pancuronium is used in operating rooms worldwide.   Death would occur within minutes from this drug alone unless CPR rescue breathing or mechanical ventilation are done.  Full effect is obtained withing 2-4 minutes.  This drug is given so that the body does not contort or show agonal breathing as the person dies, especially after injection of drug number #3.

3. Potassium Chloride - third drug given to stop the heart.  At lethal doses, KCl causes pain during and following injection, and is the reason for using Sodium Thiopental to cause unconsciousness.

When properly utilized, the condemned criminal will rapidly fall into a deep sleep, followed by cessation of breathing and all visible muscle activity, followed by rapid death all withing 10 minutes or so.

Two problems may occur:

1. The calculated doses of the medicines are incorrect/insufficient.  Factoring in far more than sufficient quantities will prevent this scenario.  (drugs are fairly inexpensive and this is not the situation to choose discount Chinese imports)

2. The person(s) performing the execution botches the placement of IV access or mix up the order or dose of the drugs, IV access is difficult to obtain, or IV access is disrupted after placement.  Appropriate inspection of IV access and drugs are critical.  Possible workarounds would be 2 large bore IV's or consideration of a central line prior to arrival into the execution chamber.

The biggest fear is that the Thiopental sedation will wear off, the condemned criminal will gain consciousness, but will appear to be sleeping because of the paralyzing effect of Pancuronium, and will feel intense pain as the KCl is given.  Interestingly, this rare phenomena of 'alert but paralyzed' occurs during surgery.  As such, anaesthesiologists now utilize a device to monitor brain waves as well as heart rate to see if the patient is sufficiently asleep.  The same device could be used during executions.

One last problem is that physicians are not supposed to be involved in executions.  The American Medical Association has made their position clear.  (Yet the AMA is perfectly fine with physicians performing abortion - go figure.)  If trained professionals were allowed to monitor and/or assist in executions than much of the issues of the "cocktail" execution would be moot.

RRAM Tough!