16

It is often claimed that lethal injections are a painless and humane method of applying the death penalty. Do lethal injections result in either no, or minimal, pain?

Sam I Am
  • 8,775
  • 7
  • 48
  • 71
Casebash
  • 10,199
  • 5
  • 55
  • 84

1 Answers1

10

The killing is done in several steps.

First, the convicted are given a high dose of barbiturates (about 10-15 times the normal dose), which causes them to fall unconscious within a few seconds.

Then pancuronium, and finally a massive overdose of potassium chloride are injected. The former is similar to curare (indio arrow poison) in that it paralyzes muscles (thus causing apnea). If the person was not already unconscious at that time, this would be very inconvenient (not strictly painful, but nevertheless really really uncomfortable).

The latter (potassium chloride) is actually harmless, but in this massive overdose causes a cardiac arrest and convulsions. Which, again, would be very painful, if the person was not already unconscious, and under pancuronium.

So, in short, yes. Painless.

dm.skt
  • 665
  • 6
  • 8
  • I think it is inappropriate to assume that a label of 'delinquents' is appropriate to describe persons for whom state-sanctioned execution has been ordered. Anyway, this is broadly misleading. At least see the [wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lethal_injection#Controversy) and check the references there. One source : Liptak, Adam (October 7, 2003). "[Critics Say Execution Drug May Hide Suffering](http://query.nytimes.com/gst/health/article-page.html?pagewanted=all&res=9A06E7DF113CF934A35753C1A9659C8B63)". New York Times. – belacqua Mar 11 '11 at 17:27
  • If 'delinquent' is not the right word, I apologize. If you like 'convicted' or some other word better, I'll be happy to substitute it. – dm.skt Mar 11 '11 at 18:17
  • As for "misleading", I cannot speak for the anonymous experts at Wikipedia because I have never administered a 10-fold dose of sodium thiopental to a human, but I can assure you that a regular dose reliably causes 5-6 minutes of unconsciousness (deep enough so you can intubate a patient without provoking any reaction). Basically it's like propofol without the erotic dreams. Once you apply a significant amount of potassium chloride intravenously, cardiac arrest happens within seconds. – dm.skt Mar 11 '11 at 18:18
  • Loss of consciousness usually happens within 10 seconds during a cardiac arrest, rarely after as much as 20 seconds. So, there is a time window of maybe 20-40 seconds at most opposed to 5-6 minutes. While I don't agree with the idea of killing a human as such, I cannot find anything wrong with this particular method (the fact that you kill a human left aside). It is a million times better than being shot, hang, or electrocuted. – dm.skt Mar 11 '11 at 18:20
  • @dm.skt I'm assuming that 'convicted' is better, but the OP hasn't yet made clear whether we are talking about China, N. Korea, Pakistan, the USA. Or perhaps the OP is speaking of extra-judicial lethal injections. – belacqua Mar 11 '11 at 21:59
  • @dm.skt I specifically mentioned checking the references in the wikipedia article. – belacqua Mar 11 '11 at 22:00
  • I changed the wording to 'convited'. You may have a point about extra-judical killings. To me 'execution' implies a judical background (though English is not my native language, so I may very well be wrong). Regarding the theory of drugs hiding the suffering, I'm not sure where these people take that idea from. Of course, in theory, the convict could not cry or move if he had pain, that's the very effect of a muscle relaxant. But the point is that he is in deep narcosis before the pancuronium is applied at all. And he is still in narcosis when the heart stops beating and the brain ceases ... – dm.skt Mar 11 '11 at 22:22
  • ... to function. One should also consider that succinylcholine which is quite similar in its effect (except it's depolarizing, so acutally even more uncomfortable) is routinely applied at nearly every non-trivial surgical intervention. So, if that was excessive suffering, then you would not be allowed to do it to patients. – dm.skt Mar 11 '11 at 22:25
  • @dmt.skt -- Sure, if that scenario and those drugs are what we are restricting this to, I have no disagreement. But it's not clear that appropriate 'humane' standards are necessarily studied, followed, or implemented (especially since we have not defined who/what we're talking about). Your understanding of 'execution' is probably correct idiomatically, though perhaps optimistic. A healthy legal and judicial system may or may not be in the background (unless we tightly restrict our context, time, place). My essential problem with your answer was the presumption of uniformity. – belacqua Mar 11 '11 at 22:40
  • References would be nice. – Christian Mar 13 '11 at 20:32
  • http://www.drugs.com/pro/pentothal.html, http://www.drugs.com/pro/pancuronium.html, and http://www.drugs.com/pro/potassium-chloride.html respectively. For potassium-chloride, see the "CONTRAINDICATIONS" section, because the cardiac arrest that they produce during an execution normally counts as adverse effect, not so much a "normal, desired effect". – dm.skt Mar 13 '11 at 20:48
  • Any scientific studies (though they would have to be speculative to a substantial degree, they could address objections with highly sophisticated detail) that have concluded that "3 drug protocol" lethal injection is (or is probably) painless? Even with the references you've provided, your argument only "makes sense"; it does not rise to any higher level of credibility. As a single (general) example: as it is actually practiced, including executioner error ("minor" or otherwise), are prisoners being executed always sufficiently anesthetized that it is impossible for them to experience pain? – Eliah Kagan Nov 28 '11 at 11:47
  • Lethal injections are done by IV, I believe. So their is at least the minimal pain of the needle. Furthermore when these things are botched, which happens more often than one might expect, significant pain can occur. – Baby Dragon Aug 21 '12 at 17:47